Into the Light
by edenfalls81
Summary: Simon and River's parents turn up with an unusual request. Set five years after the events in my story Out of Darkness.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: None of the original characters are mine.

Author's note: Sequel to my story Out of Darkness. Read that one first.

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Chapter 1

"Simon wake up."

Simon groaned and tried to move away from the sharp finger jabbing him in the back.

"Simon it's your turn to feed Josh, he's crying." Kaylee muttered as she continued to prod him in the back.

It was right about then that Simon became aware of the shrill screams his son was issuing from the baby monitor. Simon sighed and sat up wearily. He had been aware of the fact that babies took a lot of work, but he honestly didn't think it would be this hard. He couldn't remember ever having so little sleep, not even when he was an intern on Osiris. But as soon as he picked up his new son he remembered why being a parent was worth every second of missed sleep. Josh stopped crying as soon as he was in his father's arms and began to coo happily.

Simon made his way with ease to the kitchen to make Josh a bottle. If someone who didn't know him had watched his movements they would never have guessed that the young father was blind. Living on the same ship for almost five years gave Simon the advantage of being able to walk with confidence almost everywhere he went without the need of a cane.

After giving Josh a bottle and burping him, Simon began to rock his son while he walked back and forth through the galley trying to get the baby to sleep for just a few more hours. Jack seemed to have other plans and he spent the next two hours babbling to his father in baby speak.

Simon knew once Josh had finally fallen asleep because the death grip the young boy had had on his father's finger relaxed and he began to breath deeply.

Once Josh was again sleeping soundly in his crib Simon fell back into bed beside his wife and was asleep almost immediately.

Kaylee woke up as soon as the lights in their bunk turned on signaling the start of a new day aboard Serenity. Simon continued to snore on uninterrupted and Kaylee thought for a minute that sometimes it must be nice not being woken up every morning by bright lights. She kissed her husband softly on the temple and decided to let him sleep a while longer since he'd been up with Josh much of the night.

Kaylee found Zoe and Alex eating breakfast at the table when she walked in with Josh. Alex was eating cereal and oranges and it seemed that the three-year old had more of it on her face than in her mouth.

As soon as Kaylee plopped down in a chair and began to breastfeed Josh Zoe handed her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks Zoe." Kaylee mumbled as she tried to suppress a yawn.

"Josh still not sleeping much at night?" Zoe asked with a knowing smile.

"Only for an hour or so at a time, then he's up screaming again." Kaylee answered.

"Well don't worry I promise it gets easier once they start sleeping all night." Zoe assured the new mother as she gazed lovingly at her daughter, who at that moment noticed that the baby was in the room.

"Joshie!" Alex yelled excitedly and struggled to jump down from her booster seat. As soon as she hit the floor she ran over to Kaylee to peer up at the little boy.

Before Josh had been born Kaylee worried that Alex would be jealous of another child being on board. But so far Alex had shown only delight and a fierce protectiveness over the baby boy.

"I wanna hold him." Alex demanded giving Kaylee a sweet look with large puppy dog eyes that she had quickly learned got her almost everything she wanted, especially when it came to Uncle Mal.

"Not now baby, you're all messy. You don't want to get Josh dirty do you?" Zoe asked as she grabbed the girl's hand and led her back over to her seat. "You need to finish your breakfast and let Josh have his."

Alex looked like she might throw a fit at not getting her way but was distracted when Mal walked into the room.

"Uncle Mal up!" She screamed and threw herself into Mal's arms.

"Ooff! Kiddo you're gettin too heavy! I just can't pick ya up anymore." Mal teased as he pretended to struggle to lift the little girl.

Alex giggled and began to try and climb Mal until he gave in and hefted her up onto his shoulders.

"Uncle Mal wanna play hide and seek?" She asked sweetly as she leaned over Mal's head to look at him upside down.

"Can't today kiddo, me and your mommy got a job to do." Mal said and swung Alex down to the floor. "Why don't you go ask your Aunt River to play?"

"No she wins! No fun!" Alex pouted.

Mal could see her point. Playing hide and seek with a psychic was probably not the funnest game ever.

"Well go ask Uncle Simon, believe me he'll have a hard time findin ya."

"Haha very funny." Simon answered as he entered the room and sat down at the table beside Kaylee.

"Besides River is going with you and I'm going to get medical supplies today remember?" He added.

"Oh yeah, I forgot ya'll were goin. Well Miss Alex, maybe you can ask Aunt Inara to play with ya later." Mal suggested.

"Oooh I wanna play dress up with Aunt Nara!" Alex shrieked.

"Baby you finish your breakfast first and we'll get you cleaned up then maybe we can ask Inara if you can play dress up with her." Zoe told the young girl and again led her back to her seat.

Everyone began to eat and talk about their plans for the day. It was the first time in quiet a while that they had been on a planet that had an actual town. It wasn't a Core planet but it was more developed than the small settlements they had visited recently and everyone was excited about being able to shop.

Inara stopped outside the door of the kitchen and took a moment to examine the scene in front of her. Zoe and Alex were giggling as Zoe tickled Alex and tried to get her to eat more. Simon and Kaylee had their heads leaned close together talking intimately while Kaylee nursed their son. Mal was leaned back in his chair sipping his coffee and watching his crew with a small smile on his face.

The scene was so comforting and homey that it brought a smile to Inara's face and put a lump in her throat. She still wasn't sure why she had returned to the training house after Miranda or what exactly it was that had made her finally decide to return to Serenity, but now that she was back she knew she wouldn't leave again. She smirked and thought about how strange life could be. She had been one of the most sought after Companions in the Verse, had grown up in luxury that few would ever know, and here she was more at home on a derelict ship on the very edge of the Verse than anywhere else she had ever been.

Mal noticed Inara hovering in the doorway and gave her a broad smile. She was wearing a pair of tight black pants and one of his shirts and Mal was convinced she had never looked more beautiful. He still couldn't believe that she was his, that after all the months of dancing around each other and avoiding their true feelings she had finally been the one to take the first step.

The day she had returned to him stood out clearly in his mind. To this day he still had no idea how she had found them, but there she had stood one morning at his door. They were on some backwater moon making a drop, Mal had lowered the cargo bay doors and there she was standing in the early morning sunlight waiting for him. At first he thought she was a mirage or that perhaps he was imagining things, but then she had walked determinedly to him and kissed him without a word between the two.

That had been two years ago and they still hadn't talked about why she had come back or what had changed. Mal thought he didn't need to know, he had learned to stop questioning and simply enjoy the good things in his life. Inara sauntered into the kitchen with the easy grace that came from years of training. Mal knew that even though she was no longer a Companion there were just some things about her that would never change, but when it came to the tricks she knew in the bedroom Mal figured that wasn't such a bad thing.

He stood up from his chair and pulled Inara into his arms and gave her a deep kiss.

"Mmm morning Captain." She giggled and gave him a smoldering look from beneath her long eyelashes.

"Now don't be giving me those kinds a looks this mornin I got a job to do and you make it awful hard for a man to leave his bunk when ya look at him like that." Mal joked and kissed her once more, before turning to speak with his crew.

"Anyone know where my mercenary is? We gotta be leavin in fifteen if we're gonna make it to the meetin on time." Mal asked.

"Where do you think he is Captain? He's probably in the same place he's been every morning for the last six months." Simon replied.

"So he's probably in sexin up my Reader right about now?" Mal asked with mock innocence.

"Ok can you please not use the words 'sexin up' when it's referencing my sister ever again? I'm still tryin to accept the fact that she and Jayne are together and getting married, I don't need a description." Simon muttered.

"Not to worry Simon intercourse concluded approximately ten and one half minutes ago." River quipped as she bounced into the kitchen and planted a kiss on her brother's cheek.

Suddenly the image of Kaylee cuddling Josh popped into Simon's head making him smile. It had become something of a routine for River to send the image of his family to him every morning. Even after three years it still amazed Simon that his sister had the ability to project her own sight into his mind. He still wasn't sure how she did, but he was immensely grateful for the fact that she could. It allowed him to continue being a doctor and it allowed him the precious gift of seeing his family everyday, even if it wasn't through his own eyes.

The image of Kaylee and Josh was suddenly replaced by the image of a shirtless Jayne walking into the kitchen while scratching his hairy stomach. Of course the down side to having a sister who could put images into your head was that she got to choose what to show him and River did love to torture her older brother.

"Thanks a lot for that mei-mei." Simon muttered sarcastically.

"Fer what?" Jayne asked as he pulled River to her feet and kissed her.

"Never mind." Simon said with a laugh.

"Alright if everyone is done screwin around can we please talk about the job we got this morning?" Mal asked.

"Ok Zoe and I are gonna go in and meet up with the contact. River I want you and Jayne outside in the Mule ready case somethin goes south. You feel up to readin today lil albatross?"

"Should be fine Captain. I will warn you if it becomes likely that you will be shot."

"Well good, I love gettin warned fore I get shot. Simon who's goin with ya ta get them supplies for the infirmary?"

"Kaylee's going to come with me. Inara volunteered to stay on the ship and baby-sit." Simon answered.

"Well guess we got everything settled. Lets get this done and get outta here, I don't like bein on Stone Ridge too many rich folk from the Core here." Mal said.

"But Cap'n it's so pretty here and there's lotsa shoppin. I was hopin maybe we could stick around for a day or two maybe get a little time to relax." Kaylee argued.

"Kaylee its huntin season here. That means this place is full up of rich tourists lookin to bag themselves a cute little deer. Do ya really wanna be around to watch that?" Mal asked knowing that bringing up the slaughter of a cute animal would work on Kaylee.

"Ahh they're gonna be shootin deer? That's sad."

Simon smiled at the Captain's subtle manipulation and put his arm around Kaylee to make her feel better.

"Alright lets get goin then." Mal said as he stood and walked out of the kitchen.

Kaylee reluctantly handed Josh to Inara after kissing his cheek six or seven times.

"I'll take good care of him Kaylee I promise." Inara assured the mechanic.

"I know its just this is the first time I've left him, what if he gets scared without me?" Kaylee questioned sounding close to tears.

"Bao-bei Josh will be fine. You know Inara will take care of him and Alex like they were her own. We'll get the supplies fast and be back before he even wakes up." Simon assured his wife as he too leaned over to kiss the boy.

"Bye-bye mama!" Alex called down happily to Zoe as she dragged Inara towards her shuttle to play dress up.

"Bye baby, you be good for Aunt Inara." Zoe called as the Mule pulled out of the ship.

"Kaylee you ready to go?" Simon called up to his wife who was still trailing behind Inara checking on Josh every few seconds to make sure he wasn't going to cry.

"I'm comin Simon." She called to her husband and reluctantly headed down the stairs after giving the baby one final kiss.

Simon grabbed onto Kaylee's arm and put on the sunglasses he wore when they were off ship before they headed down the ramp.

Sometimes Simon really hated getting off Serenity. On the ship he was secure in his surroundings and didn't need help from anyone to get around. Off the ship he was dependent on others to lead him around and he hated the way strangers tended to shout at him like they thought because he couldn't see it meant that he couldn't hear as well. But he wasn't willing to become a recluse who was scared to leave his own safe environment, so he simply dealt with the problems and inconveniences that came from leaving Serenity.

It was a sunny fall day on Stone Ridge, Simon and Kaylee took their time walking the mile into town, enjoying the warm sun and light breeze. It had been three months since Josh had been born and this was the first time the parents had had to enjoy each other's company completely uninterrupted by the baby.

Half and hour later Kaylee and Simon stood in the back of a small pharmacy. "I'll have this order sent out to your ship in about an hour, is that soon enough for you Dr. Tanner?" The pharmacist asked Simon using the fake name Simon had given him.

"An hour should be fine, thank you for all the help today." Simon answered.

After leaving the pharmacy Simon and Kaylee stood on the sidewalk discussing what they should do with the free hour they now had in town.

"Why don't we see if there's a baby store around, maybe we can get some new toys for Josh." Simon suggested.

"Honey he's already got a closet full a toys and he can't even play with them yet. Besides I just got a better idea." Kaylee whispered into his ear and then nibbled playfully on his earlobe.

"Oh really and what would that be?" Simon asked with a smile.

"There's a bath house just down the street from us. The sign says you get a whole hour for only six bits. You, me, and a tub of hot soapy water for one whole hour." She whispered into his ear in such a way that Simon felt his breathe catch in his chest.

"I think it sounds like the best idea I've ever heard" Simon replied and let Kaylee begin leading him down the street.

Suddenly out of nowhere an image popped into Simon's head. An image so startling and unexpected that Simon tripped and fell to his knees.

"Ai-ren you alright?" Kaylee asked as she leaned down to check on her husband.

"We need to find a bar called The Rifleman as soon as possible." Simon responded and stood up quickly.

"Why what's wrong?"

"River is there, she's in trouble." Simon answered.

"Why? Did the job go bad?" Kaylee asked concerned as she looked around to try and locate the bar.

"No she and Jayne are outside and she's having an episode, a bad one." Simon explained as Kaylee began to lead him down the street.

"She ain't had an episode in six months. I wonder what set her off." Kaylee said with concern for her sister in law.

"I know what caused it. My parents."

"Your parents what do they have to do with it?"

"They're here on Stone Ridge, with River right now."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The bar was a small hole in the wall establishment set back from the main street. It would have taken Kaylee longer to locate it, but as soon as they came with in a block of it they could both hear River yelling.

Walking to the bar was difficult for Simon because of the constant flashes River was sending him. He had learned a year before that when River was having an episode she lost the ability to control what she projected into his head. As he and Kaylee walked to the bar he was given a constant and disjointed series of flashes from what River was seeing.

As Kaylee and Simon hurried up to the bar, Simon could hear River shrieking and Jayne desperately trying to quiet her. He could also hear the strange but all too familiar sound of his parents' voices.

"River what's wrong? Who is this man?" Simon's mother asked and leaned over to pull her daughter to her feet.

"Buyao peng wo!" River screamed and scrambled away from her mother.

Jayne was kneeling on the ground next to the reader trying to get her to calm down and explain to him what was wrong. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Simon and Kaylee were hurrying towards him.

Simon knelt down on the ground next to his sister and fumbled to find her hand.

"River its ok. Come on mei-mei calm down and focus on me." He whispered quietly to his sister.

River stopped yelling after a few seconds and grabbed onto both of Simon's shoulders. Everyone had become quiet, even Simon's parents who seemed to have been stunned into silence at the abrupt arrival of their son.

"Don't let them send me back, Simon." She whispered desperately.

"Shh mei-mei that will never ever happen I promise." Simon assured her.

"Jayne take River back to Serenity and giver her a smoother. Kaylee and I will wait and drive the Mule back once Mal and Zoe are done." Simon instructed.

Jayne picked River up and glanced at River's parents.

"What about them?" He asked gruffly and nodded his head toward the Tams.

"I'll take care of them, just get River home and take care of her."

"Come on bao-bei, let's go home." Jayne said to River as he cradled her lovingly and turned to head towards the ship.

It was seeing their daughter being carried off by the large brute of a man that snapped the Tams back into action.

"Simon what is going on?" Gabriel Tam shouted while at the same time his wife was yelling, "Who is that man?"

"That man was River's fiancé and he's taking her home. Which is where I suggest the both of you go back to." Simon replied bitterly as he stood up and brushed the dirt from his clothes.

"Simon we aren't going anywhere until we get some answers. You and your sister have been missing for almost five years and suddenly we find you on some backwater planet." Gabriel yelled angrily.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tam just calm down. We can all go back to the ship and Simon can answer your questions alright?" Kaylee assured them.

"Kaylee we aren't taking them back to the ship. We're leaving now." Simon replied.

"Simon we aren't just letting you and your sister disappear again without some sort of an explanation. My God we thought you were dead and it appears you've just been out roaming the Verse." Gabriel yelled.

Simon sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to just walk away from his parents now that they had found them.

"Fine we can talk at the ship. Kaylee and I have some business to finish. The ship is parked about a mile south of town. The name on the side says Serenity. If you want to talk meet us there tonight at seven." Simon instructed.

"Simon why are you acting like this. Aren't you happy to see us?" Reagan asked and began to cry.

Simon laughed sarcastically and turned to his parents. "Happy to see the parents who disowned me and left their daughter to be tortured. Yes I'm ecstatic to see the both of you. Not that I'm really seeing either of you."

"What do you mean you're not seeing either of us?" Gabriel asked.

Simon pulled off his sunglasses and turned towards his parents so that they could see the scars on his eyes.

"Well let's just say I had an accident while I was out ' just roaming the Verse' as you put it."

"Oh Jesus Simon your eyes. What happened to you?" Reagan asked tearfully.

"I'll explain it to you tonight. We have to go." Simon replied and grabbed onto Kaylee's arm. "Come on Kaylee we need to pick up Mal and Zoe."

It was while waiting in the Mule for Mal and Zoe that Simon realized that he couldn't stop shaking. He hadn't given his parents much thought over the last few years, although he had thought of them more recently since Josh had been born. He just hadn't ever expected to run into them like this and now that it had happened he didn't know what to do.

Kaylee waited for Simon to say something for over five minutes, but he didn't seem to be willing to talk.

"Simon why were you so cold to your parents? I know you're mad, but they are your folks. Don't ya wanna see them?" Kaylee questioned finally when she couldn't stand the silence any longer.

Simon wasn't sure how to respond to Kaylee's questions. Simon had told the crew some of what had happened between him and his parents, but he had only given them a few of the details. No one, not even his wife, knew just how bad things had gotten before he had left and taken River with him.

"Kay, I don't really want to talk about it ok?" Simon muttered.

"I just don't understand why you're so mad. They made a mistake but don't ya think they've probably had a long time to regret it."

"A mistake? You think what they did was a simple mistake? Kaylee they ignored River and me for most of our childhoods, they left River in a place that butchered her brain even when they knew something was wrong, and they disowned me when I tried to help her just so I couldn't embarrass them anymore. Those aren't just simple mistakes Kaylee!" Simon realized he was shouting at his wife and took a deep breath to try and calm down.

"Alright ai-ren calm down. I wasn't tryin to say what they did weren't wrong. I just meant that it's been five years. Maybe they've had time to regret their actions." Kaylee explained soothingly.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell at you." Simon apologized and leaned over to kiss his wife.

Mal and Zoe walked out of the bar just then and both of them looked up in surprise to find the doctor and the mechanic in the Mule.

"We did leave Jayne and River outside when we went in right? I'm not goin crazy or anything right?" Mal asked.

"No sir I believe we did leave Jayne and River out here. As for you bein crazy well I ain't gonna comment on that one." Zoe replied with a smirk.

"So what are you two do here and just where are my merc and my reader?" Mal asked.

"River had an episode so Jayne took her back to the ship. Kaylee and I waited so we could tell you where they went." Simon explained.

Mal and Zoe could both tell that there was something wrong with the doctor. Not only was he pale and sweating but his hands were shaking as well.

"Ya'll right there Doc? You ain't lookin too good yourself." Mal asked.

"I'm fine, its just something unexpected has come up."

"And what would that be? You know how much I just love unexpected complications on my boat."

"River and Jayne ran into my parents."

"Your parents? I thought they lived on Osiris." Zoe asked confused.

"They do. I'm not sure why they are here on Stone Ridge. They want to talk to River and I. I told them they could come by the ship tonight and talk."

"You really think that's the best idea? Havin them come to the ship?" Mal asked angry about having strangers on his boat.

"I didn't know what else to do. They aren't just going to go away now that they've seen us and if we try and ignore them they may go to the authorities."

"Well then I guess we'll be havin a little family reunion tonight huh?"

"Oh yeah, I just can't wait." Simon muttered sarcastically.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 13

Simon paced nervously back and forth in he and Kaylee's bunk while she sat on the bed and attempted to get Josh to go to sleep.

"What time is it now Kaylee?" Simon questioned.

"Bout ten minutes since the last time ya asked hon." Kaylee answered with a smile.

Simon sighed and sat down on the bed next to his family. Kaylee deposited the baby into his arms.

"Here why don't you rock Josh ta sleep that'll calm you down. I gotta go to the engine room for a bit." Kaylee said and gave her husband a peck on the cheek before leaving the room.

Simon rocked Josh for a few minutes and listened to the slow and contended breathing of his son. He smiled a little when he realized Kaylee was right, rocking the baby had helped him calm down some. That was until Jayne knocked on the door of his bunk.

"Hey Doc, you got a sec ta talk?" Jayne whispered.

"Sure."

"Ya think River'll be alright? I ain't seen her that bad since Miranda."

Simon wasn't sure how to answer the merc's questions. He also hadn't seen River so distraught in a long time. When he and Kaylee had returned to the ship she had still been agitated, even with the smoother Jayne had given her. Simon had eventually had to give her a sedative to get her to sleep.

"Well hopefully after she's slept some she'll be calmer. You know when she has a bad episode she has to sleep it off." Simon answered without conviction.

"Yeah but ain't yer folks gonna be on board when she wakes up? That might just set her off again."

"I know, but I'm hoping since she'll be here where she feels secure it will help her cope some. Are you going to be able to handle it if she's still upset? She calms down better when you're around."

"Course I'll be here Doc. That girls gonna be my wife soon enough I ain't goin nowhere." Jayne said sounding somewhat hurt.

"I know I'm sorry I wasn't trying to question your commitment to River. It's just been a long day and I have a feeling its going to get worse." Simon said as way of an apology.

"S'ok Doc. I guess seein yer folks ain't exactly easy on you either huh?"

"Honestly I really don't know how to feel about it. I didn't think I'd ever see them again and now suddenly here they are. I mean what do you say to the parents who basically abandoned you?"

Jayne drew in a breath as he thought about what to tell the doctor.

"I don't know Doc, that's a tough question. I guess ya just tell em everything that's on yer mind."

Jayne squeezed Simon's shoulder and stood to leave the room.

"Hey Jayne?"

"Yeah Doc?"

"I just wanted to thank you I guess for how good you've been to River. I know I wasn't exactly supportive when you two got involved, but really I think you're probably the only person in the Verse who could want to spend the rest of their life with her, now that she's so… different."

"Hell Doc any man that couldn't love that woman is either sly or crazy. I know I ain't always been the best guy but that girl is the best thing that ever happened to me. There ain't nothin I wouldn't do fer her." Jayne replied showing more emotion than Simon ever heard come from the older man.

"Thanks Jayne that's the best thing I've heard all day."

"Hey no problem. If ya need ta talk more, just come find me. I know we ain't always liked each other, but I think we've gotten ta be friends the last few years and soon we're gonna be family. And one thing I do take seriously is family" Jayne added as he left the room.

Simon realized then that Josh had fallen into a deep sleep. Simon took him across the hall to River's old room, which had become the baby's nursery. Josh sighed when Simon laid him in his crib but didn't wake up. Simon returned to his bunk and turned on the baby monitor before he lay down on his bed. It was only a few minutes later that Mal knocked on his door.

"Hey Doc yer folks are here, I had Inara take them into the common room."

"Thanks Mal."

As soon as he stepped out of his room River was at his side. He pulled her into a hug and tried to calm the waves of anger he was sure she could feel pouring off of him.

"Mei-mei I thought you were sleeping." Simon whispered into River's hair as he continued to hold his sister.

"Can't let you face the music alone." She whispered back.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I'm fine. I can handle them alone. I don't want you to have a set back just to try and help me out. If seeing them again will be too much for you then don't do it, please."

River squeezed Simon tighter for a moment and then let go and took a deep breath.

"No I want to see them. Maybe things will be better after. I want answers." River assured him and began walking towards the common room.

"River just promise me you'll leave if you feel yourself slipping alright? If it gets to be too much just get up and walk out, go find Jayne and stay away from them." Simon instructed.

"I promise Simon, now stop worrying she won't break as easily as you think."

Simon bumped into River when she stopped suddenly five feet from the door to the common room.

"Mei-mei?" Simon asked immediately becoming concerned.

"Just trying to get prepared. They don't know how to quiet their thoughts like the rest of you have learned to do. It's going to be very loud in there." River explained.

Simon gave River's shoulder one last reassuring squeeze before they walked into the room together. As soon as they walked through the door River began projecting her sight into Simon's head. He figured she was doing it not only so that he could see but so that she wouldn't be the only one to have to see her parents.

Their parents were sitting on the thread bare sofa that the entire crew had lounged on so many times. The elder Tams looked extremely out of place and continuously glanced around the ship as if hoping that suddenly the surroundings would become more to their liking. They both stood up abruptly when their children entered the room. The family stood uncomfortably in silence for almost a minute before Reagan suddenly lunged forward and pulled both of her children into her arms.

"I can't believe we found you. I thought so many terrible things and now here you are, both of you together safe and sound." She said and began to cry.

River and Simon both stood in shock not sure how to react to suddenly being held by the mother they hadn't seen for so long. Simon felt River stiffen beside him and he knew that the close physical contact with his mother's unguarded mind was hurting her. He put his arms up and gently pried his mother's arm away from the both of them and then put his own arm around River's shoulder and pulled her away from their mother.

"River doesn't like to be touched when she isn't prepared for it mother." He explained.

"Simon we need to talk about what happened." Gabriel said.

Simon held up his hands to quiet his father.

"Look before we talk I want to show the both of you something. I was able to take some 3-D neural images of River's brain about four years ago. I know you didn't believe me when I told you that something was wrong at the Academy and I know you still don't believe it. I want to show you the cold hard proof of what was done to your daughter in that place. Maybe once you've seen that we can talk, but I don't want to try and convince you of the fact that River was being hurt at the Academy."

Simon turned without another word and began walking towards the infirmary. His parents followed him into the room while River took a seat on the couch outside; she never went into the infirmary unless it couldn't be helped.

Once Simon had the 3-D image displayed he stepped back and allowed his parents to see it. River had stopped projecting into Simon's mind so he was once again in darkness, but it didn't matter he knew every detail of that scan. He must have studied it over a thousand times desperately seeking some clue that would give him the knowledge to help his sister.

Simon knew that his mother wouldn't understand anything she was seeing in the scan, but his father was a surgeon and Simon was sure that the evidence of the Academy's savagery would be all too obvious to him.

"Simon I don't understand what exactly you're trying to show us." Reagan said.

"I know you don't mother, but he does." Simon replied.

Gabriel Tam stood transfixed by the image before him; he turned the scan back and forth viewing it from many different angles. He looked at the scan for over ten minutes and then began reading through the file that Simon had handed him; it was the file that Simon had made containing all of his observations and theories about River's condition.

Simon and his mother had both left the infirmary and were now sitting on the couch with River. They all three waited in silence for nearly an hour as Gabriel poured through all the data that Simon had meticulously collected about his sister. Finally Simon heard the sound of papers hitting the floor and guessed that his father had dropped the file to the ground. He then heard his father's footsteps as he stepped from the room and stood in front of his family.

"Simon do you swear to me that those are River's scans? That file and everything in it is true? Please tell me that this is some sort of payback for disowning you." Gabriel whispered in a shaky voice.

"I wish I could tell you that, but I can't. Those are River's scans. That's what the Academy did to her. Now can you understand why she reacted so violently when she saw the two of you today in town and thought you were going to send her back?"

"Wuh de ma!" Gabriel shouted.

"Would one of you please explain what was so terrible on that scan? Please I need to know what happened to my daughter." Reagan pleaded.

"They cut into her brain. By the looks of the scalpel scars I'd say they did it at least five times. There are certain areas of her brain that have been completely stripped." Gabriel replied.

Reagan sucked in a shaky breath and sobbed.

"Why would they do that?" She asked.

"I don't know." Gabriel answered and shook his head.

Simon wasn't sure how to respond to his mother's question. It had been hard enough to make his parents believe that the Academy had been hurting River. Simon had no clue as to how to tell them that their daughter was a psychic because of what had happened to her.

"It was so quiet." River said suddenly.

"What sweetie?" Reagan asked.

"The house it was too quiet. Daddy was always at work he thought if he worked hard enough he could forget about his missing children. You were always home alone and it was so quiet. Sometimes you wanted to scream just to stop the silence. Then one night you found the sleeping pills. You took a few extra so that you wouldn't have any nightmares and then you thought if you took the all you wouldn't have to listen to the quiet house anymore. The maid found you and called the hospital. Daddy made you promise you would never do something like that again."

Reagan and Gabriel both sucked in a breath of air at the same time and sat in silent shock for half a minute.

"River how could you possibly know about that?" Reagan asked.

"They cut away the barriers in her mind; it lets her see into the minds of others." River responded.

"See into the minds of others? You mean read their thoughts? That's impossible." Gabriel said.

"That's what I though too father, but believe me River is a reader. She reads thoughts and senses things that are about to happen. I know it's hard to believe but you just saw the proof of it." Simon explained.

"Zhen ta ma jue! My God River that's amazing." Reagan said.

"Believe me mother it came at a heavy price. You've only seen River have one episode; I've watched her struggle to maintain her sanity for five years. It's a constant battle for her to behave normally." Simon said not wanting them for one second to think that the Academy had helped River.

Simon suddenly sensed someone standing directly in front of him and knew that it was his father. Gabriel dropped to his knees and fell onto Simon grabbing his arms tightly. He began to cry great heaving sobs that shook his entire body. Simon had never heard or seen his father before and he didn't know how to react.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Gabriel muttered over and over while he clung to his son and cried.

A part of Simon wanted to throw the older man off and scream at him. He wanted to let him know what exactly he and his sister had gone through since they had been forced to leave their home and family behind. But without even realizing it Simon put his arms around his father and hugged him. He wasn't sure why he was comforting the man that only a few hours earlier he'd sworn to hate forever but something about it felt right. Gabriel hugged Simon back fiercely. With one arm still around Simon's shoulders Gabriel turned to River and said,

"Baby I'm so sorry. I know that doesn't mean much now, but I would never have let anyone hurt you on purpose. It sounded like such a good school. I just wanted you to have the best. I should have listened to Simon when he said there was something wrong with your letters. I should have realized myself that something was wrong."

The room was silent after that except for the quiet sobbing of Reagan Tam who sat curled into a corner of the couch. River stared at her father without blinking for over a minute and then she reached out one hand and placed it on her father's cheek.

"She's not as broken as you think. Mistakes in the past should stay there." River said quietly and then fell into her father's arms.

Gabriel stroked River's hair, the way he had done when she was a child. He couldn't believe that after all the years of pain and guilt from the loss of his children he had them both in his arms once again. He squeezed both of them tightly as if they might disappear again at any moment. He let them go a few minutes later and sat back to really look at his children. They had both changed so much since he'd seen them last, especially River.

The last time he had seen his daughter she had been a skinny gangly teenager. Before him now sat a grown woman. She was even more beautiful than she'd been as a child and her natural grace was apparent in every move that she made. But as beautiful as she was it was all too obvious that'd she'd been through major trauma. Her eyes held a haunted look that Gabriel wished more than anything he could take away from her.

The changes in Simon weren't as drastic as the ones Gabriel saw in River, but he did look different. He seemed to have more confidence and held himself straighter than he had before. He was also much more muscular than he'd ever been while living on Osiris. Gabriel felt another wave of guilt wash over him when he looked into Simon's eyes. The scars covering Simon's pupils gave his once blue eyes a cloudy gray appearance, which made it obvious to anyone that he was blind.

Reagan had sat silently during her husband's tearful reunion with their children. She watched as he held both of their children tightly, tears of joy streaming down his face. Reagan wanted so much to do the same, to pull both of her children into her arms and tell them how much she loved them. She wanted to tell them how sorry she was for failing them and how much she wanted to be forgiven. She wanted to tell them so many things, but she couldn't seem to say any of it. How could they possibly forgive her? She knew it would be selfish of her to even suggest that they love her again. A mother was supposed to protect her children from harm. She should be willing to give up her own life in order to them safe and she hadn't done any of that.

Reagan thought of how she had remained safe and sound in her posh lifestyle while her children went through so many hardships. While she had gone to dinner parties and social events her daughter had been experimented on, driven insane by having her brain cut up, and her son had given up his entire life to help her only to be blinded. There was no way she could apologize for all of that; it would be pointless for her to even try.

"It's never pointless to try." River said suddenly and pulled away from her father to sit next to Reagan on the couch. "Sometimes saying I'm sorry is enough, even if you don't think it is."

Reagan was shocked once more by her daughter's ability to so easily read her thoughts. She swallowed hard and wiped the tears from her eyes before she took both of River's hands in her own.

"Dui bu qi bao-bei. I'll do anything I can to make it up to both of you." Reagan whispered.

River stared at her mother the same way she had stared at her father. Simon couldn't be sure because he couldn't see her but he was almost positive that her silence was because she was reading their mother.

River had to read her mother for only a few seconds before she found what she was looking for. Clear in her mother's mind was undeniable love for her children as well as true regret and sorrow for what had happened to them. Her father had been the same way. River leaned over and pulled her mother into her arms, feeling for the first time in so long the unconditional love and warmth that only a mother could have for their child.

Reagan couldn't remember the last time she had felt so happy, it was like the embrace River gave her had taken a huge weight off of her shoulders. She felt even better when a few seconds later Simon and Gabriel embraced her as well.

The Tam family sat on the couch for over ten minutes in their embrace. No one said anything they simply sat and enjoyed being together again for the first time since River had left for the Academy almost eight years before.

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A/N- Sorry this update took longer than normal. I had the world's worst cold and didn't feel much like writing.

Translations

Bao-bei: Sweetheart

Dui bu qi: I'm sorry

Wuh de ma: Mother of God

Zhen ta ma jue: That's incredible


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Gabriel reluctantly let go of his children and stood up from the worn couch where his family sat. He rubbed a hand over his face to wipe the tears away and took a deep breath.

"Well I guess we should see about getting your things packed up and we can have them shipped home so they'll be there when we get back." He said brightly.

Simon and River's heads both came up in surprise at his words.

"What do you mean pack our things up? River and I aren't leaving Serenity." Simon argued quickly.

"Simon you don't think your mother and I are just going to leave you here on this junk heap of a ship do you? I mean now that we've settled all this unpleasantness we want to take you both home where you belong." Gabriel replied.

"You call what happened to us unpleasantness? It was a bit more than that Father. And like I said before River and I aren't leaving Serenity, this is our home now." Simon said determinedly.

"This is just ridiculous. Are you honestly telling me that you would rather stay here than go back to the beautiful home you grew up in?" Gabriel wrinkled his nose in disgust as he gestured around the common room.

"Father we can't go back to Osiris. We're still listed as fugitives. If we go back to the Core I'll be thrown in jail and River will be taken back to the Academy." Simon reminded him.

"Now Simon I'm sure that if we speak to the officials on Osiris we can get this mess figured out. We'll just explain to them what that horrible Academy was doing and I'm sure the Alliance will shut it down." Reagan said.

"God can you really be so naïve mother? The Alliance are the ones that ran that place, they're the ones that did this to River. If you take us back there they'll throw me in prison and possibly you and father too just so we can't tell anyone about that place. They'll send River back as soon as they get their hands on her so that they can finish what they started." Simon shouted now at his mother.

"Alright Simon calm down. If you can't go back there then we'll all just move somewhere else. We have the money to buy you and River new identities; no one will know who you are. Maybe we could move to Ariel, you always loved it on Ariel." Reagan said in a pleading tone.

Simon had to smile at the irony of his mother suggesting Ariel as a place where he and River would like to go. He was fairly certain if she had been aware of their last trip to Ariel she would have suggested someplace else.

"Please see reason Simon. You and River are both special you have too much potential to be wasting your lives out here with a bunch of Rim born people. We're your family. You belong with us." Gabriel said in a much calmer tone trying hard to reason with his son.

"You're our family? You abandoned River and disowned me, family doesn't do that. These Rim born people as you like to call them are our family now and they've protected us and sacrificed more for us than you ever did."

"Is this about that girl you were with back in town? I won't let you sacrifice your life or your sister's just so you can have a fling with some Rim world trollop who has probably slept her way across half the Verse." Gabriel shouted back towards his son.

Simon was again thankful for his sister's ability to give him sight. It allowed him to jump up from the couch and land a punch squarely across his father's jaw. Gabriel fell to the floor and Simon stood over him breathing heavily.

"That is the last time you get to insult my wife or my family here on this ship, do you understand me?" Simon shouted down at his father.

Gabriel rubbed his jaw and picked himself up from the floor, Reagan and River had watched the exchange between the two men silently neither sure what to do.

"What about your sister Simon? Do you really think it's fair to ask her to stay out here with you? You always wanted to make her decisions for her and I won't let you do it anymore. Maybe your sister wants to come home and be with her real family?" Gabriel shouted.

Simon laughed out loud in his father's face at the ridiculous statement.

"Hmm do I really think River wants to go back so that she can get her brain cut up some more? Let me think hard on that one." Simon mocked.

"We won't let that happen! I'll protect her and make sure she has the best of everything while I keep her safe. Can you do that for her out here?" Gabriel retaliated.

"Fine ask her then. Ask River if she wants to leave Serenity." Simon challenged.

"Simon with her mental state the way it is I don't really think River can judge for herself what's best for her."

"Father you never did give her enough credit. She's much more stable than you think and trust me she knows exactly what she wants. So go on and ask her."

Gabriel sighed and turned to River who had shrunk back down to the couch and had her hands covering her ears. Gabriel sat down on the couch beside River and tried to take her hands in his, but she refused to touch him.

"River don't you want to come home with your mother and me? We could get you the best medical help in the Verse; get you on the best drug therapies. We could fix you and then you could do whatever you wanted. Maybe you would want to go back to school or you could start dancing again." Gabriel persuaded.

River shook her head back and forth vigorously.

"No can't go back. The hands of blue might find her again. She's safe out here in the stars. She won't leave her family." River replied earnestly.

"But River your mother and I are your family too and we love you. We want to give you a safe secure home." Gabriel persuaded gently.

"Already have that. Have a father and a brother and a lover to protect me. Have sisters to love me and have a nephew who needs me. She has everything she needs out here." River answered.

Simon put his arm around River; even though she sounded calm Simon could tell from her tone of voice that she was getting dangerously close to having an episode.

"Mei-mei why don't you go find Jayne. He's probably worrying about you by now, plus I think Mal wanted you to check on our departure schedule for tomorrow." Simon whispered to River hoping she would take his suggestion and leave the room.

Simon pulled River up from the couch and walked her out of the room and down the hall towards the bridge.

River stopped suddenly and tugged on Simon's hand.

"They love us Simon I felt it. They love us so much." River whispered.

"I know they do mei-mei, but sometimes love isn't enough. They love us, but they don't know us. They never really knew us when we lived under the same roof as them and they certainly don't know us now. They want us to change our entire lives to make them happy and I'm not willing to do that. Are you?"

"No, but I don't understand why they can't just love us and let that be enough." River replied.

"I don't either mei-mei. I guess I better go back in there. Go find Jayne; he'll make you feel better. Then maybe you could go check on Josh and Kaylee for me?"

River kissed her brother's cheek and walked away to the bridge. As she left the vision she was projecting into Simon's head faded away and he was left in darkness once again.

As soon as he reentered the common room both of his parents began questioning him at the same time.

"What did you mean your wife?" Reagan asked.

"What did River mean about her family out here?" Gabriel asked at the same time.

Simon smiled sadly at how little his parents knew about he and his sister's lives.

"Why don't you both sit down and maybe I can explain to you why exactly we aren't going to be leaving this ship." Simon said diplomatically.

"That girl you saw me with in town yesterday is my wife Kaylee. We've been married for two years and three months ago we had a baby boy, his name is Josh."

"Oh Simon you have a…" Reagan began to interrupt but Simon held up his hands to quiet her.

"Please let me finish telling you the rest of it. Kaylee is the ship's mechanic and she loves it out here. There isn't anyway I could talk her into leaving and I won't go anywhere without my wife and son."

"Alright I understand why you are so tied to this ship, but what about your sister? I still don't understand what she meant by the fact that she already has a father out here and a lover? She can't seriously have a… a man out here can she?" Gabriel stammered.

"I think River was talking about the Captain when she mentioned having a father here on the ship. Malcolm Reynolds has taken care of River for five years; he's protected her and looked out for her. I think she sees him as something of a father figure. As for the lover statement River is engaged." Simon said wishing immensely that he could see the looks on his parents face right then.

"River is engaged? But how can she be engaged she's well she's cra…" Gabriel trailed off not knowing how to finish his sentence.

"Because she's crazy?" Simon finished for him.

"River is different that's true, but she's still River. Jayne loves her like she is and he has gotten really good at dealing with her moods and her episodes."

"But how can she possibly get married. She'll know everything her husband thinks, how is that going to work?" Reagan replied.

"Gee mother I can't believe I haven't thought of that or River or Jayne for that matter. Thank god you're here to point out how difficult her abilities make things." Simon replied sarcastically.

"Simon there's no need to talk to your mother like that." Gabriel reprimanded.

"Fine mother I'm sorry. But please stop assuming that I haven't taken care of River while we've been here. I know more about her than you two ever will and yes I have had this conversation with her. She is going to try her best to not read Jayne and he understands what being involved with a reader entails. I'm sure it won't be easy for them, but really what marriage is ever easy?"

"Look I have a lot to do before we leave tomorrow and I need to go take Josh from Kaylee so she can get to work." Simon said a moment later. He stood up hoping his parents would get the hint and leave the ship.

"Simon please we can't just leave it like this." Reagan pleaded.

"Look I'm sorry that things didn't work out the way you had hoped, but now you know that River and I are alive and safe and happy. Can't that be enough for you?" Simon asked.

"Fine Simon if that's the way you want it." Gabriel replied and stood up pulling his wife up with him.

"I'm glad you're happy son." He said and walked past Simon.

Once his parents had left the ship Simon closed the cargo bay doors and slumped down to the ground.

Kaylee found him sitting there fifteen minutes later.

"Ai-ren are you alright? Where are your parents?" She asked and sat down beside him.

"They're gone." He replied simply.

"But- I mean did you talk to them? What happened?"

"I told them everything. They believe me now about the Academy and they're genuinely sorry for what happened."

"So why are you so sad? Isn't that a good thing?"

"I guess it is. They wanted River and I to go back to Osiris with them. They hadn't changed at all. They couldn't understand why we would want to stay and they seemed ashamed to have their children living on a ship in the Black."

Simon looked so sad that it nearly broke Kaylee's heart.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you had wanted. But at least you got to settle things with them. And at least they know that their children are alive. Can you imagine if that was Josh somewhere out in the Verse and we had no idea if he was alive or dead? I couldn't stand that." Kaylee pointed out to him.

Simon hadn't really considered how this encounter must have affected his parents. He thought of how he would feel not knowing where Josh was or if he was even alive. Simon couldn't imagine the pain that it would bring him and he suddenly felt a wave of sympathy for his parents.

"You're right bao-bei. If it was Josh who was suddenly gone, I think it would kill me. But I'll never be like my parents. Whatever Josh chooses to do with his life is up to him. I just want him to be happy." Simon said a few seconds later.

"Speaking of our son's happiness he could probably use a bottle right now and I gotta get them parts on the engine. Think you can put the little guy to bed tonight?" Kaylee asked and pulled Simon up from the floor.

"I think I can handle that. Just don't laugh this time if his pajamas don't match. Its not easy getting someone dressed when you can't see what your putting on them." Simon replied with a laugh.

"I promise, no laughing." Kaylee said and gave her husband a kiss before heading towards the engine room.

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A/N- Sorry for so long between updates. School, work, stupid stupid cold that won't go away.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was a few hours later when Simon found himself back in the cargo bay. He was walking back and forth through the large room bouncing Josh gently trying to get the boy to finally fall asleep.

"Come on Josh it's late. Daddy's had a long day." Simon whispered to his son.

Just as Josh had quieted down and was close to sleep the proximity buzzer went off loudly causing the baby to startle and begin screaming again.

"Tzao-gao" Simon muttered as he walked over to the comm. button and slammed his fist down on it.

"Can I help you?" He asked wondering who would be at Serenity's door so late at night.

"Simon I need to speak with you." Simon's father replied through the comm.

"I thought we'd said everything we needed to say earlier." Simon responded as he continued to try and quiet his still screaming son.

"Just give me a few minutes, please?" Gabriel asked.

"Alright wait there and I'll be right out." Simon said not even bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice.

He wrapped Josh in his favorite fuzzy blanket and then lowered the cargo bay doors and stepped outside.

"So what do you need to talk to me about?" He asked.

Gabriel didn't reply and it was so quiet outside that Simon wasn't even sure if his father was still there or not.

"Dad? Are you still here?" Simon asked.

"Yes um I'm sorry. I just- your son is really beautiful Simon." Gabriel said quietly.

"Thank you. Is that what you came here to tell me?" Simon asked.

"No I want to talk to you about your mother."

"What about her?" Simon asked and then breathed a sigh of relief as Josh quit crying.

"I know you must have gathered from what River said today that you're mother hasn't handle your absence well." Gabriel said uncomfortably.

"Yes I think I got that."

"It's been more serious than just the sleeping pills she took. Your mother has been suffering from severe depression since you disappeared. I've done everything I could think of to help; she's been to therapy, she's on anti-depressants, we've taken vacations. But nothing has been able to pull her out of her grief and guilt. She's attempted suicide twice and this last time had to be hospitalized in a mental facility for almost a month."

Simon swallowed thickly and shifted on his feet. As angry as he had been, or still was, he hated to think of his mother going through that kind of pain.

"I brought her out here to Stone Ridge to try and get her away from everything. I thought maybe if we came somewhere so far from home she could get her mind off of things that reminded her of her children. It's so ironic to think that doing that is what brought our children back into our lives."

"I'm sorry that mother has had such a difficult time. Whatever has happened between us I never wanted to hurt either of you. But is there a reason that you're telling me this?" Simon asked.

"Simon you can't just leave tomorrow. Don't you understand? It will destroy your mother if she has to lose the both of you again. She was happier today than she has been in the last five years. To find you both again, only to lose you the next day she won't be able to survive that." Gabriel explained his voice thick with emotion.

Simon didn't know how to respond. He couldn't see any solution that wouldn't hurt someone.

"I'm sorry. I really truly am, but there is no way River and I can return to Osiris with you. I hate to think of hurting mom, but going back there isn't possible." Simon said regretfully.

"I know. I thought a lot about what you said and I know that you're right. We can't take either of you back to the Core. I won't put my children in that kind of danger." Gabriel agreed.

"So I'm asking again, why exactly did you tell me all of this. We can't go back with you; I just don't see a solution to this."

"I do Simon. We want to go with you." Gabriel explained.

"What? Go with us? On Serenity?" Simon asked seeming to have lost the ability to form full sentences.

"Yes. We could travel with you for awhile. It would give us the time to get to know our new grandson and to be with you and River without either of you having to leave the ship."

"But what about your job?" Simon asked.

"I can take a leave of absences. The hospital is aware of the problems your mother has been having. I don't think me leaving for awhile will come as a great shock to them."

"Someone wanna tell me why my ruttin cargo bay door is hangin open?" Mal called and walked outside. He stopped short when he noticed Simon and an older man standing next to his ship.

"Hey Doc. Um I was gonna lock things down for the night you gonna be out here much longer?" Mal asked uncomfortably.

"No not much longer. Captain this is my father Gabriel Tam. Dad this is Captain Malcolm Reynolds." Simon introduced.

"Captain Reynolds it's nice to meet you. My son has told me that you've done so much for him and his sister. I want to thank you for helping them and giving them a home." Gabriel said and held his hand out to Mal.

Mal regarded Gabriel coldly for a moment and didn't return the hand shake. "Yeah well I guess someone had to give em a home." He finally replied.

Simon had to quickly suppress a smirk at the pointed comment made towards his father.

Gabriel cleared his throat quickly and replied. "Yes um well my wife and I are grateful to you all the same."

Mal nodded towards Simon's father but gave him no further reply. "So Simon you ready? We're leavin early tomorrow morning so we should be gettin some shut eye."

Simon opened his mouth to answer Mal but was interrupted by his father.

"Actually Captain Reynolds there is something I would like to speak with you about."

"And that would be?" Mal asked.

"My wife and I would like to book passage on your ship for a few months."

Mal's mouth hung open in surprise for a moment; this was the last thing he had expected the elder Tam to say.

"I ain't lookin to take on passengers right now." He finally replied.

"I understand that but I was hoping perhaps you would be willing to make an exception. Simon's mother and I just found our children and we don't want to lose them again so soon." Gabriel explained.

"See I just don't see why I should be inclined ta help ya. I ain't never met ya before, but from what I've heard from the Doc and his sis I don't like ya much. Why should I go outta my way to help you see your children when you're the one who forced them out inta the Black in the first place?"

"I understand that you haven't gotten the best impression of my wife and I, but regardless of what's happened in the past we love our children very much. We just want a chance to make amends with them." Gabriel replied his tone of voice rising to a pleading pitch.

"You still ain't given me a good reason ta help. Like I said I don't like ya much so I ain't likely ta help outta the goodness of my heart. What's in it for me and my crew?" Mal asked.

"I can make it very worthwhile to you financially. I thought that one thousand dollars per month per person would be a fair price for room and board." Gabriel announced.

It took Mal a few moments to get past the monetary amount that Simon's father had just put on the table, but he managed to keep his face passive and uninterested.

"That seems like a fair price for rent, but I still ain't sure if this is a good idea. The Doc tells me just seein you and your wife today sent River into an episode. I care bout the girl and I ain't gonna be bringing people on board who are gonna be upsettin her all the time." Mal threatened.

"I understand Captain and I won't lie to you I have concerns about that myself. But on the other hand I am a doctor and as talented as my son is, I do have about twenty years more experience than him. Its possible that I could come up with a solution to help River that he hasn't been able to find."

Mal looked over to Simon to see if he was angry about the implied comment that he needed help finding a cure for River. But Mal was surprised to see that Simon actually looked intrigued.

"Doc what do you think bout all this? I ain't gonna make any decision less you and River are alright with it." Mal told Simon.

"I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but my father does have a point. It's possible that he may see something in River's case that I have missed." Simon said hopefully.

"Well what do ya think Lil Albatross will have ta say bout all this?" Mal questioned.

"I'm not sure. I think River might like the chance to have her parents around. Today in town was a major surprise for her and we both know she doesn't handle surprises well. But if she knows that they're on board and not planning on taking her back to the Core I think maybe it could be beneficial for her. After all she hasn't seen them since she was fourteen." Simon said thoughtfully.

"Well fore I make a decision on this I wanna talk to the rest a the crew. That all right with you Doc?" Mal asked.

"Fine with me, I think this is a decision we should all make." Simon replied.

"We'll talk as a crew and make a decision. You and Mrs. Tam be here and ready ta leave at six tomorrow mornin and we'll let ya know what we decided." Mal instructed.

He turned to leave and put a hand on Simon's shoulder to urge him inside as well. Mal liked being the one to have the last word, especially during a business deal and he wanted to get inside before Mr. Tam could make any demands or question his decision.

"Simon there is one more thing." Gabriel called out causing Mal to sigh loudly in frustration.

"What is it?" Simon asked without turning around.

"If we are allowed to come on board I would be willing to unfreeze you and your sister's inheritance accounts and transfer them wherever you wanted."

Simon stopped in mid-step but didn't turn around to face his father.

"I'll let River know." Was all he replied before disappearing into the ship.

Mal waited until Simon was out of hearing range and then called Gabriel back to the ship.

"I gotta tell ya somethin now that Simon ain't around." Mal said.

"Alright Captain Reynolds I'm listening."

"Your kids have been through a lot, more than you can even imagine and they've both finally been able to settle down and find some happiness. If you're comin back into their lives to try and ruin that or to get somethin outta them just know that every single person on this ship will be there to stop that from happening. We're a family here on this boat and we don't let anyone hurt our family." Mal told him trying to sound as stern and threatening as possible.

"Captain Reynolds I'm completely aware of the horrible mistakes my wife and I made in the past. I will regret my decisions until the day I die and all I want is the chance to maybe redeem some of those mistakes." Gabriel assured him.

"I hope that's all ya want. This crews lost enough we don't need anyone tryin to take anything else from us." Mal threatened once again and then walked inside and shut the cargo bay doors before Gabriel could reply.

Simon put Josh to bed in his crib and then tracked Kaylee down to the engine room, but she was busy cleaning and tightening parts so that the ship would be ready for lift off in the morning. Simon kissed her goodnight and left her to work, knowing that once she was involved with the engine it was best to just leave her be and let her work.

Simon paced nervously back and forth in his bunk, unable to sleep or even sit still. His mind wouldn't quit creating scenarios for what may happen if his parents were allowed on board. The scenarios ranged from the horrible paranoid thought that perhaps his parents would betray them to the Alliance to sugary sweet daydreams of reconciling with them and once again having his family whole. He couldn't decide which was worse; the worry that his parents may betray them or the hope of reuniting his family and knowing it would probably never happen. Feeling like he couldn't breathe in the small bunk Simon picked up the baby monitor and left the room.

Although it was late Simon desperately wanted to talk to his sister about his parent's proposal. Since she rarely fell asleep until the early morning hours he wasn't worried about waking her as he quietly knocked on the hatch to Jayne's bunk knowing that was where she was likely to be.

The hatch opened only a second later but Simon was surprised when it was Jayne who spoke to him instead of his sister.

"Whatcha want Doc? Ya know its late right?" Jayne asked.

"Sorry I just wanted to talk to River. I thought maybe she'd still be awake." Simon explained.

"Nope she passed out bout an hour ago. I think seein yer folks again kinda took it outta her ya know?" Jayne replied as he quietly climbed out of his bunk and shut the hatch.

"Ya kinda look like ya might be needin a drink there Doc." Jayne commented.

"You know I really really do." Simon said with a laugh as he and Jayne walked down to the galley.

The two men spent the next few hours drinking home-made engine wine while Simon told him all about his father's request. Jayne didn't think it was a good idea and was worried about how having them on board would affect River, but he did agree that the decision should be left up to River and Simon. After that discussion things became less serious as the men got more and more drunk.

"Ya just don't understand Doc. I mean River is just so bendy and I mean talk about stamina." Jayne bragged.

"Jayne seriously I don't need to know that about my baby sister." Simon said slurring his words slightly.

"Sorry but damn she is one fine woman. Can't help but brag some about her." Jayne laughed.

"Yeah well Kaylee is hot too. And you wouldn't believe the stamina she has." Simon replied, the alcohol loosening his tongue and making him want to brag right back.

"Well glad ya appreciate me so much ai-ren." Kaylee suddenly said.

Jayne burst out laughing at the way Simon jumped when his wife had spoken.

"Hey bao-bei how long have you been here?" Simon asked.

"Long enough to know you love my stamina. Hope that ain't the only thing ya like about me." Kaylee teased slightly as she leaned over to kiss Simon.

"You ready to come ta bed or ya gonna stay up all night drinkin with Jayne?" Kaylee asked. She then leaned over, kissed him deeply, and then playfully bit his earlobe.

Simon sucked in a breath and stood up. "Night Jayne." He called as he hurried out of the room with his wife.

It was after he and Kaylee had finished making love that he told her about what his parents wanted. She like Jayne wasn't sure if it was the best idea, but thought that the decision should be up to Simon and River. They both decided not to worry anymore about it until the next morning and curled up together to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

It was only two hours later when Mal's shouting over the comm. unit woke Kaylee and Simon.

"It's five forty-five. Everyone get their pi-gu's up to the galley now." Mal's annoyingly loud voice came blaring into Simon's hung over head.

He groaned loudly and pulled himself out of bed.

"You go on up to the galley and talk to everyone bout yer folks comin on board. I'll get Josh washed up and dressed and meet ya up there." Kaylee instructed as they both pulled their clothes on.

Simon walked into the galley wearily and immediately made his way over to the coffee pot. Once he had a large cup of black coffee he plopped into a chair and leaned his head on the table.

Usually he listened carefully to the sounds in the room to figure out who else was in the room with him. This morning however he was too tired to care so he startled and jumped a bit when Mal's voice spoke from right beside him.

"Ya gonna make it there Doc?" Mal asked teasingly.

"Sure just remind me to never drink my wife's wine again." Simon muttered.

"Yeah it is pretty deadly." Mal agreed with some degree of sympathy.

Jayne and River entered the room then arguing loudly back and forth about which guns worked best for close range encounters.

Simon couldn't be sure but the sudden kissing noises coming from Mal made him sure that Inara had also entered the room.

Mal cleared his throat after a moment.

"Alright we only got a few minutes to discuss this so we gotta make it quick." Mal began. "Simon go head and tell em bout last night."

"Well basically last night my father came back and made a request. He and my mother want to book passage on Serenity for a few months. They want to be with River and I, since we can't go back to the Core they want to be here." Simon announced.

"So how much they gonna be payin? We ain't doin it for free right?" Jayne asked.

"Mr. Tam offered two thousand a month. Plus he mentioned something about giving River and Simon their inheritance if we agree to this." Mal explained.

River drew in a breath when Mal said this but still didn't make a comment.

"The money would definitely help out everyone on the ship." Simon added.

"Yeah two thousand a month would be a nice chunk a change to be brining in for awhile." Jayne commented.

"Actually I was talking about our inheritance money." Simon replied.

"Why is it a lot?" Mal asked.

"I think it's a little over seven million dollars."

"Zhen ta ma jue!" Mal exclaimed.

"Each." Simon added.

This time Mal didn't make a comment but Simon did hear him choke and spit out his coffee, apparently all over Inara judging from the way she began yelling at the Captain.

"So you're telling me if your parents get to come on board they are going to give you two almost fifteen million dollars?" Mal managed to gasp through his coughing.

"I don't think River and I would keep the money just for us. It would be for all of us." Simon informed him.

"Now that would be your money Simon." Mal insisted, never being one to take charity.

"Not charity, we're family." River said simply, easily reading the thoughts in Mal's head.

"Well guess we can discuss the money later. Right now we gotta make us a decision. Are the Tams gonna be stayin with us or not?" Mal asked.

"Shouldn't this decision be left up to Simon and River?" Inara asked.

"Yeah you two should be the ones to decide." Jayne agreed.

"River what do you think?" Simon asked.

"They won't be able to take me back will they?" She asked quietly.

"No one is ever gonna take ya. Ya got that baby doll?" Jayne assured her quickly.

"They can't stop Jayne and I from being wed can they?" She asked.

"No River we won't let them do that." Simon replied.

"Then I won't object to their presence."

"But do ya want em here Lil Albatross? Cause the money don't matter none if them bein here is gonna hurt ya." Mal told her sternly.

"I think perhaps it would be interesting to have them here. Haven't had a mother or father for eight years, perhaps parental involvement would be nice." River concluded after a moment.

"Doc what about you?" Mal asked.

"If it's alright with River then I guess I'm ok with it. I'm not ecstatic about them being here but the money is something I can't just ignore." Simon answered.

The outside buzzer sounded then telling everyone that the Tams had arrived.

"So does anyone have any objections to let Simon and River's folks come aboard?" Mal asked.

When no one objected Mal and Simon both stood and walked to the cargo bay to let the Tams inside.

"Good morning; Simon, Captain Reynolds. Have you come to a decision?" Gabriel asked.

"We've decided that if you would like to rent a shuttle, then you're welcome to it for the price we agreed on last night." Mal told them.

"Thank you so much Captain Reynolds. This is my wife Reagan." Gabriel responded.

"Captain Reynolds it's so kind of you to allow us this chance to be with our children. I don't know how to thank you for this." Reagan said warmly.

"Well I wouldn't be thankin me too much. This is Simon and River's decision, I'm just doin it for the money." Mal told her bluntly.

"Simon I'm gonna leave ya ta show yer parents around. We're gonna be breakin atmo in twenty." Mal told Simon as he walked away.

"Come in and I'll show you where you're going to be staying." Simon instructed.

Simon led them up to the shuttle docked opposite from Inara's. They had briefly considered putting them in a passenger bunk. But Simon had thought having them more secluded from the crew may be a benefit, especially if this latest job turned out to be less than legal. He knew that the shuttle was sparse, bare, and probably dusty from disuse and he really wished he could see the looks on his parent's faces.

"So this is the shuttle. Um feel free to fix it up however you want. Listen I have to go get Josh so that Kaylee can prepare the engine for take off. Why don't you unpack and settle in and after we break atmo I'll give you a tour." Simon instructed.

"Thank you Simon… for everything. Your father told me he got to see your son last night and that he's a beautiful baby. I'm so excited to meet him." Reagan said happily and leaned over to kiss her son on the cheek. Simon stiffened involuntarily when she kissed him and then felt a wave of guilt for his reaction.

Simon cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Well you'll meet him later I promise." He said quickly and turned to leave the shuttle. As if on second thought he suddenly stopped and turned back.

"Listen before you meet the crew, there are a few conditions to your staying here that I think we should get straight." Simon told his parents.

"Conditions?" Gabriel asked.

"Just some things that I expect the both of you to agree to while you're here in our home." Simon explained.

"Ok son what are these conditions?" Gabriel asked once more, sounding irritated.

"Firstly I don't want either of you to question River about the Academy. I'm sure you both want to know the details of her time there, but bringing it up tends to upset her. She's been here for almost five years and I've still only learned bits and pieces of what happened and most of that I learned from the things she screams in her sleep or during an episode."

"I'm sure we can do that Simon, we don't want to hurt River. But I do want to go through her case more thoroughly." Gabriel said.

"Fine. The second condition is this; we are all Independents on this boat including River and I. We've lost a lot because of the Alliance. So I don't want to hear any talk of the Alliance or how wonderful Unification was. You should also know that the Captain and his first officer Zoe both served as Brown Coats so I would stay away from talk of the war as well."

"Alright I'm sure we can do that. After what I've learned in the last day about what the Alliance did to my daughter I'm not about to start praising them. Do you have any other conditions?" Gabriel asked.

"Just remember that I consider every person on this ship family, as does River. I expect that you will treat everyone with respect."

"Of course we will Simon. We don't want to do anything to upset you or your sister." Reagan assured him, although Simon had the feeling that her promise would likely be broken.

"Oh there is one other thing. No one on board is aware that there is a surgery that could restore my sight. Its possible River knows, but she's never mentioned it and I don't want anyone else on board knowing about it."

"Why wouldn't you want them to know? Certainly if this crew is as close as you've said they would want to do anything to help restore your sight." Gabriel asked in confusion.

"That's the problem. They would do anything they had to for me to get that surgery. The only place it could be done is in the Core. Going into the Core like that no matter what precautions we took would pose too much of a danger to everyone, especially River. I'm not willing to put any of them in that kind of situation." Simon explained.

"But Simon this is a chance for you to see again. How can you give that up?" Reagan asked sounding near tears.

"Being blind isn't the worst thing in the world, trust me. It's not like I would choose to have this disability, but I'm also not willing to let anyone get hurt just to fix me. I'd rather stay blind than risk that."

"Alright Simon we won't mention anything about the surgery. But I think you should consider telling them." Gabriel told his son.

Simon resented the fact that his father was trying to give him advice. The man who abandoned his children was trying to give him advice on how to treat his family. It was almost funny to think about.

"Well I do have some work to get done. I'll be back in about thirty minutes to give you that tour." Simon promised as he headed out of the shuttle.

Once the shuttle door had closed behind him Simon stopped and took a quick breath trying his best to calm down. Having his parents around was going to take some getting used to he thought.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Simon found his family in the engine room later that morning. Kaylee was working on the engine while Josh lay in his playpen. He began babbling happily as soon as he saw his father's face and realized he was going to be picked up.

"Hey big guy. How's my boy today?" Simon asked as he kissed Josh on the stomach making the baby shriek with laughter.

"So you get your parents settled in?" Kaylee asked, her voice muffled by the fact that her entire body was underneath the engine.

"Well kind of. I showed them where the shuttle is. Does that count?" Simon asked.

"I guess so. So aren't you even a little happy that they're here?" Kaylee asked after seeing the expression on her husband's face.

"I really don't know how to feel about it bao-bei. I'm glad that my father will be here to look at River's case. But I barely knew my parents even when we lived under the same roof for years. They basically left River and I to be raised by the help for our entire childhoods. Something about them wanting to be around us like this just seems a little fake I guess." Simon explained.

"Well maybe you can just try and look at the bright side of things and be happy that they want to get to know you now." Kaylee suggested happily.

"How do you always manage to see the sunny side of any situation? I wish I could do that." Simon replied.

"Well I guess that's why you love bein married to me huh?" Kaylee giggled as she slid out from under the engine and pulled both of her boys into her arms. She kissed Josh on the top of his head and then gave Simon a slow deep kiss.

"Mmm… don't think it's the only reason I married you." Simon whispered.

"Kaylee is my engine ready to fire up? I want to go to full burn like five minutes ago." Mal's voice suddenly called from over the comm.

Kaylee sighed and released her family reluctantly.

"I'll let you get back to work. Josh and I will go give my parents a tour and then I'll introduce you to them."

He had walked half way out of the room when Kaylee called him back.

"What if they don't like me?" She asked fearfully.

"Kaylee anyone in the Verse who doesn't like you is feng-le." Simon assured her.

Simon took Josh down to the infirmary and sat on the exam table. If he was honest with himself he was worried that his parents wouldn't like Kaylee. She wasn't like any of the girls he had ever dated before and he knew that his parents could be harsh in their criticism. Simon would do anything in the Verse to prevent Kaylee from being hurt and he was afraid this was one thing he wouldn't be able to protect her from.

"Uncle Simon! Momma told me that yer mommy and daddy are stayin here? That true?" Alex asked quickly as she came running into the room.

"They are staying here for awhile that's true. You want to come with Josh and me to give them a tour of the ship?" He asked and then felt like a coward for needing to use a couple of children as buffers with his parents.

"Sure! Can we show them my room?" Alex asked as she grabbed Simon's hand and began pulling him out of the infirmary.

"I bet they would love to see your room." Simon told the little girl with a laugh as they walked up to the newly rented shuttle.

"Quing jin." Simon's mother called brightly after he had knocked.

Simon opened the door slowly, but Alex pushed past him quickly and rushed into the shuttle.

"Hi are you Uncle Simon and Aunt River's mommy?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Yes I am. And who might you be?" Reagan asked.

"I'm Alex." The young girl replied simply.

"This is Alexandra Washburn. She is the daughter of the second in command." Simon explained. "And she's volunteered to help me give you a tour of the ship."

"Yep I gotta help cause Uncle Simon can't see, so he can't show you things like my pictures or Aunt Kaylee's pretty paintings on the wall." Alex explained sounding much older than her three years and reminding Simon very much of her mother.

"Well that's very nice of you to help Simon. We are very excited to see your ship." Reagan assured the girl.

"So this must be my grandson." Reagan said excitedly and hurried over to Simon.

"Yes this is Josh." Simon told her.

"Can I hold him?"

"Um sure of course." Simon stuttered and gently handed the baby to his mother.

"Oh Simon he is so perfect. He looks just like you when you were a baby. Doesn't he look just like Simon dear?" Reagan asked and turned towards Gabriel.

"He does look like Simon." Gabriel commented.

"K everybody hurry up, we gots lots ta see and I gotta show ya my room first!" Alex instructed excitedly.

Half an hour later Alex and Simon finished giving the Tams a tour of the ship. Simon thought it was odd that he hadn't run into even one crew member throughout the tour and realized they must have been making themselves scarce.

"Alex baby where are you?" Zoe called out from the Bridge.

"In the galley with Uncle Simon mommy." Alex called back at the top of her lungs.

Zoe walked into the room and stopped suddenly when she noticed Simon's parents sitting at the table as well.

"Mommy this is Uncle Simon's mommy and daddy." Alex said proudly.

Both of Simon's parents stood up as Zoe walked over to them.

"It's so nice to meet one of the crew that Simon speaks so highly of. I'm Reagan and this is my husband Gabriel." Reagan introduced brightly.

"Zoe Washburn, I'm the first officer on board. I hope my little girl hasn't been in the way. She can be something of a handful." Zoe said and bent down to pick Alex up.

"Oh no she's adorable. She gave us a very interesting tour of your ship." Reagan assured.

"Well it's nice to meet the both of you. Come on baby you need to lay down for your nap." Zoe said. It was obvious to Simon that Zoe was trying to be polite for his sake but she didn't seem to like his parents anymore than Mal did.

"I'm sure Kaylee's done with her work on the engine by now. Would you like to meet her?" Simon asked after Zoe and Alex had left the galley.

"Of course we do Simon." Reagan said cheerfully. Simon couldn't ever remember his mother being so happy and cheerful before and thought that she was trying extremely hard to assure him that she was happy to be on the ship.

Simon found Kaylee just as she was coming out of the engine room.

"Hey bao-bei my parents are in the galley and they want to meet you. You ready?" Simon asked as he hugged Kaylee.

"Oh Simon I'm all covered in engine grease and I ain't wearin nothin nice. They're gonna hate me." Kaylee said fearfully.

"Kaylee they aren't going to hate you. And if they do we'll just leave them at the next planet we set down on and we'll never see them again." Simon assured her.

"That ain't funny. Even if they hate me I ain't lettin you dump your folks out in the middle of nowhere." Kaylee argued lightly.

"Fine I won't dump them in the middle of nowhere. We don't have to worry about it anyway because I know they'll love you. How could they not?" He asked and hugged her again.

Simon entered the galley with Kaylee trailing behind him, holding his hand.

"Mom, Dad I want you to meet my wife Kaylee Tam. Kaylee this is my mother Reagan and my father Gabriel." Simon introduced.

Reagan scanned the girl up and down. She had thought before about the type of woman her son would marry someday. She had figured Simon would marry a Core girl, someone from a good family. Possibly another doctor or nurse from the hospital where he worked. The woman standing in front of him was nothing like she'd imagined. She was obviously from the Rim; her face was covered in engine grease as were her clothes. But she was beautiful with a bright warm smile. A smile that was currently beamed at Simon lovingly. It was obvious to Reagan that Kaylee and Simon were very much in love.

"Kaylee it's so very nice to meet you. I wish I could say I've heard a lot about you, but since I haven't we'll have to catch up so you can tell me all about yourself." Reagan said warmly.

"It's so great to finally meet Simon's parents. You both have an amazing son, you must be so proud of him." Kaylee said with every bit as much warmth as Reagan had had.

"We are very proud of Simon." Gabriel replied. "You two must be very proud of your son as well. He's a beautiful little boy. I'm not sure if you'll ever be able to pry him out of my wife's arms." Gabriel teased.

"Oh Gabe this is my first grandchild, it's my right to spoil him rotten." Reagan replied with a laugh and then gave Josh a kiss on his cheek.

"We haven't been able to make it home to see my folks since Josh was born, so you're the first grandparents to have met him." Kaylee explained.

"I still can't believe I'm a grandma, it makes me feel so old. But I love him so much already I don't even care." Reagan told Kaylee.

"Simon told us you're the ship's mechanic. I must say I've never met a female mechanic before and you take care of an entire transport ship. You must be very good at what you do." Gabriel said.

"She's amazing. Kaylee can fix anything. I swear she's kept this ship going using string and chewing gum before." Simon bragged as he wrapped an arm around his wife.

"Hey that was just to hold an entry coupling on till we could land. And it worked." Kaylee defended.

"Well that sounds very impressive. Perhaps sometime you could show me the engine, it must be very interesting." Gabriel said to Kaylee.

Simon was so impressed by the way his parents were acting. He had been so fearful that they were going to say something rude or condescending to Kaylee, but so far they'd only been warm and caring.

"Sure I'd love ta show ya the engine sometime." Kaylee said enthusiastically.

River stepped into the room then from the direction of the bridge.

"River good morning. I hope that us being here is going to be ok with you." Reagan said a bit timidly.

"As long as they don't try to change her life she'll be fine with their presence." River said simply.

Simon was sure that his parents were confused by the flow and word choice of River's speaking. Everyone on board had grown used to her speaking in metaphors and often in the third person, although Simon had tried hard to break her of that habit. She only did it now when she was nervous or reading someone strongly.

"River maybe you could take mom and dad up to the bridge for a while and show them around. You could teach them about the navigation system on a Firefly." Simon suggested.

"You work up on the Bridge sweetie?" Reagan asked.

"I fly Serenity. She misses Wash still but she likes me too." River replied solemnly.

Gabriel turned around to Simon and whispered in his ear, "She's the pilot? Is that safe?"

"She isn't completely insane you know. Flying is what she's good at, it's never confusing." River said suddenly looking straight at her father.

Simon felt Gabriel stiffen in surprise that River had heard him.

"Dad you really can't keep anything a secret from River. I've found it's easier to just say what's on your mind." Simon said with a laugh.

"Sorry baby. I just- well after looking at your scans yesterday I can't believe you're as well as you are. Simon has taken very good care of you." Gabriel told River.

"Well I can't wait to see the bridge. I never would have thought that my daughter would end up being the pilot of a spaceship." Reagan said again sounding cheerier than Simon expected.

His parents followed an excited River toward the bridge after Reagan reluctantly handed Josh to his mother. Kaylee let out her breath in a huge rush like she had been holding it since meeting Simon's parents.

"So think they like me?" Kaylee asked hopefully.

"No." Simon replied.

"No? They don't like me?" Kaylee asked sadly.

"No bao-bei they love you. Believe me, they love you." Simon replied with a wicked laugh.

"You are just mean Simon Tam, scaring me like that. That's it no sex for a week." Kaylee said and stomped her foot to emphasize her point.

"A week? You can't be serious." Simon yelped.

"Well maybe three days." Kaylee conceded.

Simon leaned over and began kissing Kaylee's collarbone trailing his kisses up to her neck. She sighed and pulled his mouth to hers kissing him long and hard.

"Ok well maybe you're banned until tonight. I mean ya did say they love me, guess that was pretty nice." Kaylee murmured between kisses.

"Until tonight? You are a tough woman Kaylee Tam." Simon moaned.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Simon and Kaylee were interrupted from their kissing a few minutes later when Josh began to cry loudly in his mother's arms.

"He's hungry. I'm gonna take him to our bunk, feed him, and put him down for a nap." Kaylee said as she gave Simon one last kiss before leaving.

Simon sat in the quiet of the galley, relishing having some time alone. Soon he heard the steady clank of weights as Jayne began to work out.

"Hey you need a spotter?" Simon asked as he walked in and took his place behind the bar without waiting for an answer.

"Thanks." Jayne grunted and continued to lift.

"So did you meet my parents when River took them up to the bridge?" Simon asked.

As worried as he had been about his parents meeting Kaylee he was even more worried about them meeting Jayne. The age and class differences between the couple were extreme and he was sure they weren't going to relish the idea of their only daughter marrying a man who killed people for a living.

"Not yet. I was in here with Mal and Zo talkin bout the job we got later today. Figure when Rivers done up there she'd introduce me." Jayne explained.

"Well it might be awhile I told her to teach them about the nav system." Simon told the merc.

"Damn you really hate yer folks that much?" Jayne asked.

"No I just figured that would keep them entertained for a bit." Simon explained.

"A bit? Doc ya know her speech bout the nav system is over an hour long. And I didn't understand more than five words a the whole thing."

"Actually neither did I. I guess she does tend to get technical when talking about flying the ship. I just wanted her to be able to show off a little, you know?"

"Guess I can understand that, but if they ain't out here in an hour I think you should go and rescue em."

"Alright deal." Simon promised as he took his spot on the bench to start lifting.

Both men were surprised when River and her parents came into the cargo bay only fifteen minutes later.

"Simon I didn't know you lifted weights." His mother commented.

"I never did before. Jayne taught me." Simon explained as he stood up and used a towel to wipe the sweat from his brow.

River ran up to Jayne and put her hand through his, pulling him towards her parents.

"This is my Jayne." She presented excitedly.

"Your Jayne?" Reagan asked in confusion.

"I'm River's fiancé. Its nice ta meet both of ya." Jayne said in a politer tone of voice than River or Simon had ever heard.

River and Simon's parents stood in silence for nearly half a minute gazing at the large man who had his hand wrapped around their daughter's waist.

Finally Gabriel cleared his throat and stuck his hand out. "I'm Gabriel, this is my wife Reagan." He introduced stiffly.

"Jayne Cobb." Jayne replied as he shook his future father in law's hand.

"So Mr. Cobb what do you do on the ship?" Reagan asked.

Simon winced; he had known his parents would ask these kinds of questions, he'd just been hoping it wouldn't be within the first minute of meeting Jayne.

"Um well I got lotsa different jobs." Jayne said uncomfortably.

"Jayne is an amazing tracker. He helps out mostly on jobs when we're planet-side." Simon inserted quickly.

"Well that's very interesting Mr. Cobb." Reagan replied.

"Hell ya'll can call me Jayne. Makes me feel like my pa when ya call me mister." Jayne told her.

"We'll do that then… Jayne." Reagan replied.

Everyone stood in uncomfortable silence for a minute or so. Simon really wanted to be able to make things easier on River and Jayne but he was clueless about how to help.

"Well I best be gettin back to work. Sure Mal's got plenty a stuff he needs me to be doin." Jayne said and excused himself from the room.

River's face had been steadily clouding over during the exchange between Jayne and her parents. As soon as Jayne was out of sight River burst into tears and ran out of the cargo bay.

"River what's the matter?" Reagan called out to the fleeing back of her daughter.

"She knows you don't like Jayne." Simon informed them.

"How could she possibly know that?" Reagan asked.

"She's a reader remember. She probably knew how you felt about him before you did." Simon replied with a smirk.

"How in God's name can she expect us to like that man?" Gabriel began almost shouting.

"Simon he has to be twice her age! And I would bet that mans had hardly any schooling what so ever. River is a genius, how could she possibly want to be with someone who is so obviously beneath her?" Gabriel continued to rant.

"I seem to remember one of the conditions of you staying here was that you treat every member of the crew with respect. That includes Jayne. And how can you possibly make those kinds of assumptions about someone you've known for less than five minutes?"

"They are obviously not meant to be together. A blind man could see that!" Gabriel shouted and then became silent realizing what he had just said to his blind son.

"Hmm maybe that explains why I think they should be together." Simon said with mock musing.

"Simon I'm sorry that was thoughtless of me." Gabriel apologized.

"It's fine it didn't bother me. But it does bother me that you are so willing to judge a man you don't know." Simon lectured.

"It's just that River is so special and that man is so…" Reagan trailed off not sure how to describe the large brute of a man.

"You know I used to hate Jayne. I mean I really hated him. I thought everything about him you're thinking now. But let me tell you something about Jayne Cobb. He hasn't had much schooling and he is the crudest human being I've ever met. But he loves your daughter. He loves her unconditionally, he protects her, he's taken a bullet for her, and he has no problem dealing with the fact that she can suddenly become unstable. I've seen him sit and talk to her for hours while she cried and muttered nonsense and I've seen him pull her back from those episodes faster than anyone else can. You might not think he's good enough for her, but believe me he's proven to me over and over just how much he deserves her."

"He's taken a bullet for her? How in the world did River end up being shot at?" Reagan asked quickly.

"There is a lot about living in the Black that you don't understand. It's dangerous out here especially with the kinds of jobs we take some of the time. Once about a year ago a job went bad, they tried to take the money and the goods we were delivering. River read one of them men and knew what they were planning, she tried to stop him, and he pulled a gun on her. Jayne pulled her out of the way right as the man fired and took a bullet to the stomach. He nearly died. Yet as soon as he woke up the only thing he wanted to know was if River was alright." Simon informed them.

"I had no idea you were dealing with people who could be so dangerous. Are you often in danger like that?" Reagan asked becoming more concerned by the second.

"It happens on a fairly regular basis, yes. There isn't a person on this ship, excluding the children, who hasn't been shot at least once." Simon replied.

He felt slightly guilty about the pleasure he took in informing his parents of the life they lead in the Black. He really wanted to forgive and forget, but a large part of him wanted them to know just how dangerous the world his parents had forced them into was.

"So you're telling me that you and your sister have been shot before?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes. I've been shot twice and River's been shot once."

"How is it that you're still alive? Is there another doctor on board who helped you when you were shot?" Gabriel asked.

"No there isn't another doctor on board. The first time I was shot it was in the leg. I numbed up my leg and then had Zoe remove the bullet while I gave her instructions. The second time I was shot an Alliance official ordered his men to help us."

"I thought the Alliance was after you and your sister. How did you manage to be treated by the Alliance without them arresting you?" Reagan asked curiously.

_Tzao-gao! _Simon thought. He had really not wanted to get into the story of Miranda quite so soon with his parents.

"That Mother is a long complicated story. But maybe if you know, it will help explain a few things." Simon answered.

Simon and his parents went into their shuttle where Simon spent the next hour telling them about Miranda. He left nothing out from the story. He told them about River being triggered at the Maiden Head, he told them about their horror at landing on Miranda and seeing the dead bodies of an entire populace, and he told them about losing two of their crew and the grief that had followed them for so long afterwards.

"I can't believe the Miranda report was true. We were told it was a hoax video put on the Cortex. I never once considered the possibility that it really happened." Reagan said after Simon had finally finished telling their story.

"I wish it had been a hoax. But trust me I saw the bodies with my own eyes, all of them laying there so peaceful like nothing was wrong. I'm a trauma surgeon, I've seen a lot of horrible things, but nothing has ever been as horrific as seeing all those people dead for no reason." Simon mumbled more to himself than to his parents. He shook his trying to remove the images of Miranda that still burned so brightly in his mind.

"And River knew about all of it?" Gabriel asked.

"Apparently she picked it out of the mind of one of the officials who came to see her at the Academy. She was so unstable and confused back then, I'm not sure she really understood what she knew. She told me once that she could hear all of them in her head. Every person on Miranda, dead and silent inside her mind. That's how she described it. Can you imagine living with that for even a day, let alone the two years she had it inside of her?"

Reagan began to cry then beginning for the first time to understand just how much the Academy had tortured her daughter.

"Look I didn't tell you this to make you feel guilty. I just thought maybe if you knew about Miranda you'd understand our lives here on Serenity a little more. Maybe you can understand why this crew is so protective of each other and the freedom we have here."

"The little girl Alex, her father was your friend Wash, who was killed?" Reagan asked.

"Yes Zoe was only a few weeks pregnant when Wash died, he never even knew she was expecting." Simon said sadly.

"Simon can you please come take your son so that my mechanic can get her pi-gu in the engine room and fix the thrusters!" Mal shouted over the comm. unit.

"Guess that means I have to get going. Dinner is always at seven, we all eat together in the galley if you want to join us." Simon said as he stood up and walked out of the room.

Dinner that night was an uncomfortable affair. No one was quite sure how to react to the Tam parents being at the table. Mal still obviously felt contempt for them and wasn't afraid to show it. Inara was polite and refined as always but even she seemed to have trouble being kind to the people who had hurt Simon and River the way they had. Zoe barely spoke; while Jayne and Kaylee both tried to impress the Tams. River sat silently throughout the meal still angry and hurt at her parent's reaction to Jayne. Gabriel and Reagan did try to make it up to their daughter by talking kindly to Jayne. By the end of the meal River seemed a bit more at ease with the situation.

Later that night after most of the ship had gone to bed Reagan was in the galley making tea when Zoe walked in.

"I'll be out of your hair in just a moment. I was just making some tea to help me sleep." Reagan explained.

"It's no bother take as much time as you like." Zoe replied stiffly and began to make tea herself.

"Maybe I shouldn't say anything, but Simon told us about Miranda today and I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am for the loss of your husband." Reagan said uncomfortably.

Zoe was taken aback for a few seconds. "Thank you." she replied shortly.

"It must be very strange suddenly being around your children after so long." Zoe mused a minute later.

"It is. River was just a girl when she left for the Academy and now she's a grown woman who is getting married. Simon was this young serious doctor. He rarely smiled and worked all the time when he lived on Osiris. I can't believe that after everything that's happened to him he seems happier now than he ever was then. He doesn't even let his blindness bother him. Every time I look at him all I can think about is the fact that he can't see. I don't know where he gets that kind of strength from."

"Has Simon told you how he was blinded?" Zoe asked.

"No he just said it was an accident."

Zoe was lost in thought for a few moments. She could so clearly remember that horrible day as well as the day a year later when she managed to track down and kill Zachary Jones for what he had done to Simon.

"It wasn't an accident. We were on a moon making a drop. A man that I had bad history with found out I was near town and rode out to find me. He threw a nova bomb right in front of me. Simon pushed me out of the way and the bomb went off in his face. I was five months pregnant when it happened. If Simon hadn't done what he did, I probably would have lost Alex. He saved her life that day and lost his eyesight because of it." Zoe told the older woman.

"I had no idea. I never even imagined it was something like that." Reagan whispered.

"I just thought you'd want to know just how brave a man your son is." Zoe told her.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me. If Simon had to be hurt so badly it's a comfort to know it wasn't in vain." Reagan replied.

The next two weeks passed without incident, but were strange for everyone on board Serenity. It took a while but soon everyone began to become comfortable with the Tams being on the ship. River and Simon both talked with them about life since they had left Osiris, River even managed to tell them a few things about her time at the Academy. Gabriel spent much of his days in the infirmary going over River's scans and Simon's notes. Mal watched him leaning over a pile of papers intently one night. He looked so much like Simon had in those first days that they were on board, trying so hard to find the miraculous answer for River's problems.

Simon was proud in those first few weeks at the effort his parents made to get to know Kaylee and after a few days Jayne as well. They seemed to accept the fact that River was going to marry him and they did their best to make sure River and Jayne knew they had her parents support.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The Tams had been living aboard Serenity for a little less than a month when Mal lined up the crew's first big job in over two months. The contact they had made on Stone Ridge had a huge shipment of fuel that needed to be taken to Boros. Not only were they making a big profit on the deal but they also got to keep two months worth of fuel as a bonus. Everyone was excited about the job, it was going to pay very well, it was safe, and it was legal. That was three major things that most of their jobs lacked. The night before the drop the crew was gathered around the table drinking plum wine and discussing how they would work the drop off.

"We get to Boros tomorrow, make the drop, get the cash. What's so hard bout that?" Jayne asked.

"Well I may have embellished our reputable nature a bit to the contact on Stone Ridge." Mal admitted.

"By embellished you told them what?" Inara asked.

"I kind of told them that the owner of the ship was a major stock holder in the Blue Sun Corp."

"And why would you have told them that?" Simon asked.

"He just didn't want to be dealin with Independents, specially poor ones. I just thought if I told him all bout our rich boss he'd be more willing to hand us some work."

"So why should this pose a problem for the drop we're doing tomorrow?" River asked.

"Cause the guy on Boros heard about our rich ship owner and wants him to be there at the drop." Mal explained.

"So who exactly is goin to be pretendin to be a rich stock holder? Me?" Jayne asked.

"No I need you and River to be my gun hands just in case somethin goes wrong. I ain't think anything will but Boros isn't the most civilized planet and well with our history I'm not going to count on the fact that we won't need a gun."

"So who's gonna play the rich guy? You?" Jayne asked again.

"Nope I already talked to the guy in a wave he knows I ain't the owner."

"So that leaves Simon." Kaylee said unsurely. She loved her crew and her ship, but Mal's plans more often than not went pear shaped and she didn't want her blind husband in the middle of trouble.

"Ya think you can pull it off Doc?" Mal asked.

"Well what about my eyes? Won't the blindness make it seem less believable?" Simon asked.

"I'm thinkin River just stands next to ya the whole time and projects so's you can see. If ya keep yer sunglasses on then we don't gotta explain anything."

"I guess that would work. But I really don't know anything about owning stock in large corporations."

"I think you can fake yer way through it enough for these folks." Mal told him.

"Alright I'll do it, but you know a little more warning next time would be nice." Simon told him.

"Got it next time you'll have at least two days before you got fake yer way through bein a stock holding, spaceship owning, rich boy." Mal said sarcastically.

"That's all I ask." Simon replied with a grin.

Early the next morning Serenity landed on a wide brown plain of dried grass. After the fuel was unloaded Simon, Mal, Jayne, and River stood outside waiting for the buyer to show up, while everyone else was ordered to stay inside. Zoe waited in the bridge to take off at a moments notice if they needed to do so. Mal wasn't entirely comfortable with Zoe piloting, but she was better at it than Jayne and he needed River outside.

The group of four stood outside in the sunlight talking quietly while they waited. After five minutes they could make out the shape of a group of men on horse back and a large Mule approaching. They were still about half a mile away when River suddenly whirled around while simultaneously pulling out her gun. She fired quickly into the trees to Mal's right and suddenly a man clutching a sniper rifle fell out the tree, a bullet hole between his eyes. Mal and Jayne quickly pulled out their own weapons and began to scan the tree line for signs of more snipers. River turned to shoot again, but before she could fire she was hit in the shoulder and thrown backward by the force of a bullet.

The next thirty seconds were a mass of confusion as the four crew members were fired upon. The three men had all hit the ground beside River and were huddled behind a small rock for cover.

"River!" Jayne yelled frantically during a quiet moment between rounds of gunfire.

"I'll be alright; bullet went straight through, no broken bones." She assured him. Jayne sighed with relief until he saw how pale she was and the amount of blood covering her back. She smiled reassuringly at him once and then slumped to the ground unconscious.

"Doc River's out. She's bleedin bad." Jayne yelled to Simon as more bullets began to rain down on them from the group of men on horse back who were now within striking range.

"The bullet may have hit an artery." Simon told him. He felt on the ground until he found his sister's crumpled form. It only took him a second to locate the exit wound on the back of her shoulder and to begin applying pressure.

It had only been a minute or so since the first bullet had been fired, but already Simon could hear Kaylee firing up the engines and the squeal of the cargo bay ramp being lowered so that they could run inside.

"I'm gonna get River and make a run for it. Jayne you help Simon get back to the ship." Mal instructed.

Mal knew that Jayne would want to take River himself but they had to be fast and Jayne was better at leading Simon places quickly. Jayne seemed to realize the sense in that because he didn't argue. Mal moved over to River and cradled her small frame in his arms.

"I'll take her and run soon's we get halfway you two make a break for it." Mal yelled over the noise of the gunfire.

Mal took off running as fast as he could with River in his arms. Jayne grabbed Simon's shoulder and pulled him to his feet and into a dead run as soon as Mal was halfway to the ship. He felt a huge rush of relief when he saw Mal and River disappear into the darkness of Serenity. Jayne's relief was cut short when a blast of pain seared through his thigh and he fell to the ground pulling Simon down with him. The bullet had gone straight through the back of his thigh and had come out a few inches above his knee.

"Keep goin. Fifteen feet straight ahead and you'll be there." Jayne panted through the pain and pushed Simon in the direction of the ship.

"I'm not leaving you Jayne. Get up now!" Simon yelled and pulled Jayne to his feet. Simon put Jayne's arm around his shoulder and began pulling him in the direction that he hoped Serenity lay in. They had only gone about five feet when Simon heard the thunder of horse hooves coming up behind them. He briefly heard Jayne swear and then something hit him on the back of the head. Simon hit the ground and had the breath knocked from him when Jayne fell heavily on top of him. He wasn't sure what was happening, but the sound of gunfire had been replaced by the sound of artillery fire hitting metal. Simon thought that the men who had been shooting at them were now firing at Serenity. His assumption seemed to be correct because the next sound he heard was Serenity taking off. The sound of Serenity's engine had just begun to fade when someone hit him in the head again and he blacked out.

Simon's head throbbed painfully in two separate spots as Simon came back to consciousness. He tried to reach his hand up to feel his bleeding head, but was unable to because his hands had been tied behind his back. There had been many times since losing his sight that Simon had cursed his blindness, but never as much as he did then. He found that his legs had also been tied together at the ankles and the only sound he could hear was the steady drip of water and someone breathing beside him. It was terrifying not being able to see where he was or who had captured him. He struggled desperately against his bonds trying in vain to free himself.

"Hey Simon don't bother struggling they tied us up real good." Jayne said from beside him.

"What in the rutting hell happened Jayne? Where are we? Do you have any idea who attacked us? Did Serenity get away?" Simon asked.

"Slow down Doc. I'm feelin pretty woozy from gettin shot just hold up a sec and I'll tell ya what I know. I think Serenity got away, can't be sure but looked like they had a good start on anyone who coulda gone after em. As for where we are and who has us ya ain't gonna like it." Jayne told him.

"Why who has us?" Simon asked.

"Niska, we're on his space station. After you was out they tied us up and put us on the Mule they had with em. Took us to a close range shuttle and brought us up to the station. I passed out right bout the time we got here; when I woke up we were here."

Simon felt his insides go cold at the mention of Niska. His mind began to catalog the wounds that he had treated Mal and Wash for after they had been in Niska's hands; beatings, electrocution, knife wounds, the horrible burn in Mal's chest that Simon to this day had no idea what had caused it, and reattaching Mal's ear after Niska had cut it off. Simon didn't think of himself as a coward, but the thought of being tortured made him shake with fear.

"So where are we, specifically? Do you see anyway that we could get out?" Simon asked hopefully.

"Yer guess is as good as mine. Its pitch black in here, I can't see anymore than you can." Jayne said sounding discouraged.

It took Simon a few minutes of struggling, but he was finally able to get to his knees. He moved awkwardly around the perimeter of the room with his back to the wall, feeling the surface as he went. They were in a small cell; Simon estimated that it was five feet by four feet. The walls were made of a rough and probably rusting metal, the only thing Simon could feel that stood out was the door at one end. Once he had gone around the room he slumped back down next to Jayne feeling discouraged.

"You think River's ok Doc? She was bleeding bad." Jayne asked after several minutes of silence.

"I don't know Jayne. But they got her onto the ship quickly and my father is one of the best trauma surgeons on Osiris. I'm sure he'll be able to patch her up. River's strong; you know it would take more than one bullet to stop her." Simon told him trying to reassure Jayne, Simon wouldn't admit it but he was desperately worried about River himself.

It was cold and dank in the small cell and after a few hours Jayne and Simon were sitting shoulder to shoulder trying to create some sort of warmth from their combined body heat. Jayne became less and less coherent as he lost blood from the bullet hole in his leg, Simon did his best to keep the merc awake and talking but the cold and his bleeding head was making him sleepy as well.

Simon jolted himself awake again for what felt like the millionth time since he'd woken up in the cell. He couldn't even guess how long they had been in the room, but he estimated it was over eight hours. Simon leaned his head over to Jayne's chest to take his vitals as best he could while tied up. Jayne was breathing evenly and his heart rate seemed steady, but it was difficult for Simon to be sure. The merc had fallen asleep a few hours before and Simon had been unable to wake him since. Simon sat back and leaned his head against the wall falling asleep a few minutes later himself.

He was awoken sometime later by the loud squealing sound of their cell door being opened. Jayne jolted awake a second later when a bucket of ice cold water was thrown over the two men.

"So which one of you would like to tell me where Malcolm Reynolds is hiding?" Niska asked as Jayne and Simon were dragged from the cell by their ankles.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Mal's feet pounded loudly over the metal ramp of Serenity as he rushed inside carrying River. Inara was standing next to the control panel waiting for everyone to come aboard.

Once they were inside Mal turned around in time to see Jayne take a bullet to the leg and hit the ground. Simon pulled him up and the two men began running towards Serenity, Mal was sure they were going to make it until the men on horseback caught up with them. One of them pulled out a large club and hit Simon in the back of the head. The two men went down once more and Mal knew this time that they weren't going to make it back to the ship.

"Close it now!" Mal shouted when he saw the cannon mounted on top of the Mule that was quickly closing in on Serenity.

"But Simon and Jayne!" Inara yelled.

"Close it! They ain't gonna make it."

Inara pushed the close button on the control panel and the ramp slammed shut just as the Mule began firing mortar shells at Serenity. Mal pushed the comm. button with his elbow and shouted to Zoe, "Get us in the air now!" Zoe didn't hesitate and they were airborne less than a minute later.

Gabriel and Reagan had come out of their shuttle when they heard the commotion going on outside.

"River!" Reagan shrieked when she saw the still and bloody form of her daughter in the Captain's arms.

Gabriel rushed down the stairs and pulled his daughter from the Captain's arms and ran towards the infirmary. Inara, Mal, and Reagan followed close behind, being joined by Kaylee a moment later.

"Oh God River. What happened? Where's Jayne and Simon?" Kaylee asked as she glanced around frantically trying to locate her husband.

Mal pulled Kaylee out of the infirmary and down onto the couch.

"Simon and Jayne didn't make it back to the ship in time." Mal explained gently.

"What do you mean they didn't make it back? What happened?" Kaylee asked in a whimper.

"It was a set up. They opened fire on us; River got hit, I grabbed her and ran back to Serenity, Simon and Jayne were on their way back when Jayne got hit and went down. We had to take off before they could get onboard."

"You left them there? We have to go back!" Kaylee screamed.

"Mei-mei we can't go back. There is no way we'd stand a chance against that many men and they had cannon, they'd blow Serenity outta the sky."

"So you're just gonna leave my husband there to die? You can't do that!" Kaylee screamed and began to beat at Mal with her small fists.

Mal grabbed her wrists to calm her and after a second she stopped fighting and fell against him crying hysterically. The crying fit only lasted a few minutes and then she was Kaylee again.

"Is River gonna be ok?" She asked.

"Don't know but Dr. Tam is working on her and Simon said he's one a the best docs in the Core so I'm sure she'll be fine." Mal said trying to comfort his mechanic.

They both sat quietly for the next two hours while Gabriel operated on River. Kaylee eventually fell into a fitful sleep against Mal's shoulder and was still there when Gabriel walked out of the infirmary a few hours later.

"Is she alright?" Mal asked quietly. He was trying to avoid waking Kaylee but she stirred as soon as he spoke.

"Simon?" She asked confused and then remembered what had happened.

"River's going to be fine. The bullet nicked one of her arteries but I got it closed up and the bleeding stopped, luckily Reagan is a match for blood type she's giving her a transfusion right now." Gabriel told them.

Mal glanced into the infirmary to see the still and pale form of his unconscious pilot lying on the table. Her mother sat next to her running her hand through her daughter's hair comfortingly while a plastic tube filled with her blood connected the two women.

"Captain Reynolds where is my son?" Gabriel asked.

Mal sighed. It was hard enough having two of his crew missing and probably dead; he really didn't need to try and explain the situation to worried parents.

"We got set up on the job. Lotsa men with guns and a mounted cannon. Simon and Jayne were right behind River and I but they didn't make it back in time." Mal explained regretfully.

"Is my son dead?" The doctor asked fearfully.

"I don't know." Mal admitted. "The last time I saw em they were both alive, but I don't know if they still are."

"Do you have any idea who attacked you?" Gabriel asked.

"No I didn't get a good look at any of em."

"I think I know who's got em Sir." Zoe said as she walked towards them from the bridge. "I saw it once we came around to the southern hemisphere."

"Saw what Zo?" Mal asked.

"A space station… Niska's space station." Zoe told him.

The crew of Serenity all grew silent when the news of who probably had their friends sunk in. Mal's hand involuntarily went to his ear and fingered the scar that ran across it. He shuddered when the memories of being in Niska's hands came back to him.

"Wuh de tyen!" Kaylee exclaimed and began to cry once again.

"Who is Niska?" Gabriel asked.

"An old contact we had once. We wouldn't finish a job he wanted us to pull off for him and he's pretty angry about it." Mal said.

"How angry?" Gabriel asked.

Mal considered lying to him, but realized that it was entirely possible that if they did get Jayne and Simon back the doctor would see the results of Niska's anger for himself.

"Well the last time we ran into him he tortured Wash and me for almost a day before the crew rescued us. He's probably even angrier since we got away and killed a lot of his men doing it." Mal told him honestly.

"And you think that he'll do the same to Simon and Jayne?" Gabriel asked.

"Most like. Don't think he'd kill em right off cause he probably wants to get info outta them."

"What kind of information would he want?"

"I'm bettin he wants to know where I am." Mal replied.

"So if Simon and Jayne tell him where you are will he let them go?" Gabriel asked.

"Honestly no he'd probably just kill em once they talked, but that won't matter none anyway."

"Why?"

"Because Simon and Jayne won't tell him where I am." Mal replied confidently.

"How can you be sure that they won't tell him? If he tortures them won't they talk?"

"I know they won't talk. They wouldn't ever tell Niska how to find me. If he finds me he'd also finds Serenity and if he finds Serenity he finds River, Kaylee, and everyone else they care about. I don't care what Niska does to them they wouldn't give up this family for anything."

"But we can get em back right Cap'n? I mean we got you and Wash back, we can do it again." Kaylee said hopefully.

"Kaylee Niska isn't going to let something like that happen again. After what we did last time I'm sure he's taken precautions against anything like that happening again." Zoe said.

"So we could go in and risk our lives when it was your husband, but you aren't willing to do it for mine?" Kaylee shouted angrily and then began to cry again.

"Mei-mei I'm sure that's not what Zoe is saying. We just have to think of a new plan to get them out." Inara comforted.

"Kaylee why don't you and Zoe head up to the bridge and start taking some scans of the space station. Mayhaps the both of ya can come up with somethin. I'm sure Inara can keep an eye on Josh while you work." Mal instructed trying to find something for the distraught woman to do.

"Do you think there's a way to get my son back Captain?" Gabriel asked.

"I think right now our best bet is to wait until River wakes up. She probably has the entire layout of the place memorized from the last time we scanned it. If anyone can come up with a plan it'll be her." Mal answered after thinking for a bit.

"She won't be awake and alert for another four hours at least, will they still be alive?"

"If they're alive now and Niska has them, they'll be alive in four hours." Mal replied and shuddered a little when he thought of what would likely happen to the two men during those hours.

Gabriel seemed satisfied with that answer and returned to the infirmary to check on his daughter. Reagan looked up when he entered the room.

"Simon?" She asked hopefully.

"The Captain is almost positive they're still alive. He thinks a man named Niska has them. Apparently this man is angry with the crew because of a job that went wrong, I didn't get the details." Gabriel told her gently.

"So what is going to happen to them?"

"The Captain thinks that he will hold them hostage until he can find Serenity." Gabriel explained trying his best to make the situation seem less dangerous than it really was.

"What do we do now? How are we going to get them back?"

"They're working on a plan right now. I'm sure the crew will get them back safe and sound." Gabriel said reassuringly as he removed the needle from his wife's arm. "Honey you should go to the shuttle and lie down."

"But what if River needs me? I don't want to leave her here alone." Reagan protested.

"I'll stay with her I promise, but you need to rest after giving that much blood." Gabriel insisted as he pushed his wife towards the door.

After she was gone Gabriel checked River's vital signs and sighed with relief when he saw how strong they were. He sat down wearily and rested his head on the counter of the infirmary. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so tired and worried.

Performing trauma surgery was never something one could grow accustomed to. Even after twenty some years of saving and losing lives Gabriel's heart still raced every time he picked up a scalpel to try and save a life. This feeling had been magnified a thousand fold when it was his only daughter lying on the table with her life in his hands.

Gabriel had almost managed to doze off when a beeping sound indicated that River's blood test results were in. He scanned the results and breathed a sigh of relief when the scan indicated that she wasn't anemic nor did she have an infection due to the shooting. She wasn't out of the woods, but so far it looked like she would make a full recovery.

Suddenly something caught his eye and caused him to suck in a breath. He reread the scan at least a dozen times trying to get the information to sink into his brain, but the news still wouldn't seem real. He took another sample of her blood and reran the test, but the results were the same the second time. River was almost three months pregnant.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Simon shifted uncomfortably trying in vain to move his hands in their bindings. He could hear Jayne next to him struggling in the same way.

"So where are we at now?" Simon asked.

"Not really much to tell ya. Bright white room, square, one door with a guard outside it, we're both strapped to some sorta metal table thingies." Jayne described.

"Metal tables? Like the ones that Mal and Wash got electro shocks on?"

"Probably so." Jayne muttered.

"Well that sucks."

They both stood in silence for over ten minutes before the door opened.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long." Niska said as he entered the room.

Neither Simon nor Jayne replied or even glanced up as Niska walked around them.

"Now this is going to be very simple. I ask you how to find Malcolm Reynolds and you tell me. If you don't tell me then I will hurt you until you do tell me. So who would like to talk first?" Niska continued in a sickly sweet voice that grated on Simon's ears.

Again neither of the men replied or looked up.

"Ahh so you are going to make this difficult? That is fine, because trust me I will enjoy hurting you. Forcing something out of a man is so much more gratifying than having the information easily given."

Simon heard Niska move closer to him and then suddenly he grasped Simon's chin and forced his head up towards the ceiling.

"Now this is a disappointment. I know everything there is to know about breaking a man. Anticipation is one of the most important keys. It will be so much harder to break you since you can't see what I will do to your friend and know that I will do it to you as well." Niska commented and he brushed a thumb over Simon's eyes, causing the doctor to pull his head back quickly in disgust.

"Sorry to be so much trouble." Simon spat.

"Oh well it is nothing to fret over, I love a challenge." Niska continued in his merry tone.

"Now shall we begin?" Niska asked sounding positively joyful.

Jayne collapsed against the metal table and struggled desperately to pull air into his burning lungs. He glanced sideways and saw Simon doing the same. Jayne had no idea how long they had been in the torture room. It seemed like they had been there for days, but he knew that it had probably been less than eight hours. Jayne tried to relax his muscles and reserve his strength, but it seemed like every nerve he had was on edge preparing for the next painful jolt of electricity that was sure to come.

"I must commend the both of you. You are very strong; most of the men I work on talk long before this point. Your Captain and the blond man were brave as well." Niska said casually as if he were talking about nothing more important than the weather on Boros.

There was a sudden knock on the door and Jayne was hopeful that this interruption would give them a small reprieve from the jolts of electricity. His wish was granted a moment later when the underling informed Niska that he had a business associate waiting.

"Very well, put them back in their cell and I will continue later." Niska instructed.

Two guards entered and untied the straps that were holding Jayne and Simon to the tables. Both men instantly fell to the floor, their muscles unable to support their own weight after the hours of torture.

Jayne was thrown into the cell first with Simon right behind him. They landed in a tangled heap and lay there helplessly panting neither of them able to even untangle themselves from each other. Simon finally grunted and pushed himself off of Jayne. The two men lay side by side in the cramped cell, silent except for the rasping sound of their breaths.

"So you come up with any good escape plans during that little vacation?" Simon asked a few minutes later.

"Well I came up with lotsa plans, but good ones? Not so much." Jayne replied in a hoarse voice.

"Yeah me either."

"Ya did good Doc. I kinda thought maybe you'd talk." Jayne commented.

"Well I'm not about to tell that psycho path where the Captain is; not to mention my entire family and the rest of the crew." Simon muttered sounding somewhat insulted.

"Sorry guess I shouldn't a doubted ya. Wish I knew if River was alright."

"Me too." Simon replied.

Simon and Jayne were asleep when Niska's men came for them again. Just like the first time they were forced into the white square room and tied to the metal tables in the same places they had been before.

"Leave us. I prefer to be alone with them for the time being." Simon heard Niska order someone as he entered the room.

"I'm sorry that we were interrupted before, but I must say that I've learned some very interesting facts during our little break. I had hoped that one of you would lead me to Malcolm Reynolds, but now I know you have both been hiding something infinitely more valuable. Tell me Dr. Tam where can I find your sister River?"

Simon felt like his heart stopped beating when Niska mentioned his sister's name. He could hear Jayne beside him struggling violently and screaming curses in Niska's direction, but Simon felt like he had been frozen solid. He couldn't move, couldn't breath, and the only thing he could think about was his beautiful little sister in the hands of this monster.

Just as quickly as Simon had felt frozen by fear he was suddenly angrier than he'd ever been. "Qu ni made! You won't ever touch my sister you sick son of a bitch!" He screamed.

Niska rewarded his anger by hitting him hard across the face with something heavy and made of metal. Simon tasted blood in his mouth as he struggled to hold onto consciousness. He heard Jayne being hit in the same manner, but the noises of the room seemed to be coming from very far away.

"I assume you are confused as to how I have found out about your sister. It just so happens that one of my men recognized you from your warrant picture. He thought perhaps I would want to turn you in for the reward money. But I am a rich man Dr. Tam I have no need to turn you over to the authorities. But I must say my interest was piqued when I saw that your young sister had a warrant as well. Imagine my surprise when I looked into her background. One of my contacts was involved in the Academy project, but left years ago; he was able to provide me with some very interesting details about your sister and her abilities. Is she as extraordinary as he says?"

"You won't ever get near her. It doesn't matter what ya do to us we ain't gonna tell you a gorram thing!" Jayne shouted.

"Believe me gentlemen I will find River Tam with or without you. But if I must do it on my own it will take longer and that will make me angry."

Niska walked over to Simon and put his lips next to Simon's ear. "If you make me angry Dr. Tam I will make sure to take that anger out on your wife and child once I find Serenity. I have profiles and information about every person on board and trust me I will find your ship one way or another." He whispered.

Simon had never felt so hopeless before in his life. He wasn't naïve enough to believe that if he told Niska how to find his sister his wife and child would be spared, he knew they would be killed either way. But still a part of him felt like he was betraying his wife and child to protect his sister.

"So now that you know what I want would either of you like to tell me where to find River Tam?" Niska asked.

Simon remained silent while Jayne let spew a slew of curses so profane that Simon was actually distracted from his misery for a moment.

"Very well since neither of you want to tell me what I want to know I will force it out of you and I am very much looking forward to hurting you." Niska laughed gleefully.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Mal rubbed his eyes and switched the ship over to autopilot. He climbed into his bunk wearily ready to collapse into a dead sleep. He stopped and smiled slightly when he saw Inara sprawled over the bed, one leg hanging off the mattress. It amused Mal that Inara who was always so poised and graceful while awake, could sleep with such wild abandon. He moved her over gently without waking her and then slipped into bed beside her.

He wanted nothing more than to sleep, but every time Mal closed his eyes all he could picture were Kaylee and River's crying eyes and heartbroken faces. In the six days since Jayne and Simon had been captured the crew was no closer to rescuing them than they had been the first day.

Mal turned over and pulled Inara against his chest hoping that her familiar warmth would help him get to sleep, but every time he came close to dozing off he would flash back to the time he'd been held by Niska. He'd been there less than a day and those memories still haunted him. He couldn't imagine what Simon and Jayne were going through if they were still alive. Mal finally slipped into a fitful sleep two hours later still holding Inara tightly in his arms.

River paced the darkened halls of Serenity restlessly long after everyone but the Captain had fallen asleep. She was exhausted but sleep had become nearly impossible. River hadn't been aware of how closely her mind was linked with both her brother's and Jayne's until they were taken. When they were on board she was accustomed to them being in her mind and now that they were gone from the ship that still hadn't changed. She couldn't read their specific thoughts and feelings like she could when they were near, but she could still feel both of them in her mind. It was both a blessing and a curse at the same time. She knew for a fact that both of them were still alive, but she was also painfully aware of the torment they were in. Neither of them slept for more than fifteen minutes at a time and whenever they awoke so did she.

River slipped quietly into the galley and sat down at the table. She closed her eyes and centered her thoughts onto her brother and future husband. They were both asleep for the moment and she reveled in the short period of quiet in her mind. She lay her head down on the table and was asleep within seconds. The sleep only lasted a few minutes before she was jolted awake painfully by the sudden explosion of pain and surprise coming from Jayne's mind. River pulled her knees up to her chest and began rocking back and forth while she covered her ears as if to try and block out the noises that were in her mind. Her father found her sitting that way ten minutes later.

"River? Honey? What's wrong?" He asked as he hurried over to her.

River looked up at him with large tear filled eyes, "They hurt." She whimpered.

"Simon and Jayne?" He asked and then realized how stupid that question was.

River raised her eyebrow slightly at the obvious question but nodded her head anyway.

"Baby please let me give you a sedative. You haven't had more than twenty minutes of sleep at a time for almost a week. You're still recovering from a gunshot wound; you have to get some rest." Gabriel pleaded and grabbed one of River's hands in both of his.

River shook her head back and forth. "No if something happens, if one of them- I have to be awake so I can know." River stuttered.

"River you aren't doing your brother or Jayne any good by hurting yourself. They wouldn't want you to make yourself sick. Plus staying awake like this is bad for the baby."

River looked at her father in surprise. It was the first time he'd mentioned the baby since he'd found out.

"Was wondering when you'd bring it up." River mumbled.

"You knew that I knew about the baby?" Gabriel asked.

"It's the only thing you can think about every time you look at me." River pointed out and tapped one finger against his temple to emphasis her point.

"How long have you known?" He asked.

"About a month. Haven't told anyone yet. I wish I had told Jayne." River whispered and started to cry.

Gabriel pulled River into a hug and was shocked when she actually let him hold her.

"Well just think of how much it will mean to him when he's back and you tell him."

"If he comes back." River argued miserably.

"We will get them back I promise you that River."

"What if we get them back and they're broken?" She asked.

River sounded so young and vulnerable right then that Gabriel was reminded very much of what she'd been like as a little girl. His guilt over what happened to her at the Academy had never been stronger than it was at that moment. It was no wonder she was so fearful of Simon and Jayne being broken; she'd already had it done to her.

"I know I haven't been around for a long time, but remember I did raise you for fourteen years." Gabriel said suddenly.

River cocked her head to the side and gave her father a confused look.

"I mean I know you better than you think I do. You've always been the smartest person in every room and your brother is right you can be a brat about it most of the time." He continued.

"I thought you were trying to make me feel better." River commented dryly.

"I am. Just think, Jayne wants to marry you and make a life with you despite the fact that you're smarter than him, can read his thoughts whenever you want, and you could kill him pretty easily. I think that makes him a very brave man. And as for your brother, we both know how strong Simon is. I don't think there is anything in the Verse that Niska can do to them that will break them forever."

River smiled through her tears and gave her father a condescending look.

"Are you comparing Jayne marrying me to torture?"

"Honey I've been married for thirty years to the same wonderful woman. I'm comparing marriage in general to torture." Gabriel joked.

River found herself laughing for the first time in six days.

"I'm glad you're here Daddy. I missed you." River blurted out suddenly.

"I missed you too baby. More than you can ever imagine." Gabriel whispered as he again hugged his daughter to him.

"I can't believe my baby girl is going to be a mother herself. How do you feel about that?" Gabriel asked a moment later.

"I don't know. Mainly terrified, but it's only one small helpless child. I don't understand why that is so scary." River responded.

"I understand. Trust me having children is the scariest thing you will ever do in your entire life. I just wish I had done the job the way I should have with you and Simon."

"I forgive you." River said simply, but those three words meant more to Gabriel than he could have ever imagined they could.

Reagan stood in the hallway outside of the galley listening to the conversation between her husband and daughter. She put a hand over her mouth to try and quiet the sound of her crying not wanting to interrupt their moment for anything in the world. She turned suddenly and ran towards the shuttle.

River looked up sharply and tilted her head to the side.

"Mother is upset." She told Gabriel.

"What's wrong with your mother?" He asked.

"She heard. Knows about the baby, she's angry you didn't tell her. I should speak with her." River said and stood up to go to her mother.

"No you have to get some sleep, so you're going to your bunk and I'm giving you a sedative. Doctor's orders, no arguing. I'll check on your mother I promise." Gabriel assured River as he led her to her bunk.

River lay down and buried her face in Jayne's pillow trying to bring her self some small comfort from his familiar smell. It only succeeded in making her ache for him even more. Gabriel walked in a minute later and administered the sedative. River dropped off to sleep soon after and Gabriel was hopeful that she would sleep for at least eight hours straight.

Gabriel found Reagan on their bed in the shuttle she had her face buried in the pillow and was crying loudly.

"Bao-bei?" He asked and sat down beside his wife.

"Why didn't you tell me she's pregnant? I'm her mother I should have known." Reagan yelled suddenly.

"Honey she's not just our daughter she's my patient. I can't tell anyone about her medical health, not even her mother." Gabriel argued.

"Oh Gabe to hell with all that doctor's oath go-se. She is my daughter and she's going through a major trauma right now. I think you should have told me about the baby."

"I'm sorry Reagan, maybe I should have. I just thought that it was River's news to tell not mine. Please don't be angry I'm sure once we have Simon and Jayne back, she will want to talk about it." Gabriel said trying to calm her down.

"You lied to me." Reagan whispered into the pillow.

"Lied? What did I lie to you about?"

"I was coming check on River earlier tonight and I over heard her and Kaylee talking. That man Niska, he tortured the Captain and he's torturing Simon and Jayne. How could you not tell me about that?"

"I'm sorry Reagan. I just- with the way you've been since the kids disappeared I didn't want to upset you anymore than I had to." Gabriel stammered trying to defend himself.

"Gabriel my son has been missing for six days, he's being tortured by a madman and you didn't think I had the right to know about it? I'm not a child, I'm their mother and I have a right to know what is happening to my children!" Reagan yelled.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry. You're right I should have told you the truth about what was happening to Simon. I just didn't want you to worry anymore than you had to." Gabriel replied and pulled Reagan into his arms.

"We have to get them back Gabe." Reagan said firmly.

"We will bao-bei I promise. Everyone is doing their best to come up with a plan to get them back."

"But it's been six days! We need to get them out of there now!" Reagan argued.

"I know we do. Mal said our best hope of coming up with a plan was River. Let her get some sleep tonight and tomorrow we will sit down with her and come up with a plan, I promise."

Reagan gave him a sad look like she didn't believe him and turned over to face the wall.

"We will get Simon back, we will." He whispered not sure who he was trying to convince; his wife or himself.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Jayne was jerked from sleep as an earsplitting alarm sounded through the cell. He could hear Simon jolting awake next to him. Jayne didn't know how long they had been held by Niska. Eight days? Maybe ten? There was no way to keep track of time; the only thing that happened with any sort or regularity was the guards coming for the two men and forcing them into the white room where Niska would hurt them for hours on end.

Once he was finished they would be dragged back to the pitch black cell and left there.

They were never allowed to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. The blaring alarm would sound every time they came close to deep sleep.

Jayne licked his split lips trying to relieve the tight dry pain, but he was so dehydrated that it made little difference. He struggled for a minute to remember when he'd last had anything to eat or drink; he thought it had maybe been the previous day when they had found two protein bars and a mug of water in the cell waiting for them.

Jayne knew that Simon was awake but he didn't bother to speak to him. There didn't seem to be anything else to say, they'd been together constantly since they'd been taken and had had hours to talk.

Simon cringed involuntarily a few minutes later when he heard the familiar squeal of their cell door being opened. The only time the door opened was when they were being taken back into the torture room. This time was no different; within minutes they had been forced to the room and strapped to the metal tables that both men had become far too familiar with.

"Good morning gentlemen, I trust you slept well." Niska quipped as he walked into the room.

Simon thought that of all the things that had been done to him in this room, the sickeningly sweet tone that Niska used was one of the worst.

As always Niska questioned them politely as to the whereabouts of River and as usual he was rewarded with silence from Simon and curses from Jayne.

"I think today I would like to hurt you my large friend, while Dr. Tam listens. You know Dr. Tam I thought that your blindness would hinder my methods, but I've decided that it makes it much sweeter when I hurt him and you are forced to listen. To know that you cannot see what I do to him but have to imagine it; that must be so much worse." Niska remarked.

Simon hated to admit it even to himself but he believed Niska was correct. He never knew what was being done to Jayne, but he could hear the painful results of it and was forced to picture in his head what was happening. It only took a few seconds before Jayne began screaming next to him and Simon prayed like always that the screaming would end quickly, but it never did.

It was while Simon was trying to block out Jayne's screams that he realized something was different. Usually his hands would go numb from the tight leather straps around his wrists, but that wasn't happening this time. He wasn't sure if it was because of the weight he'd lost since they'd been there or if the guard just hadn't tightened the strap as much as usual, but either way Simon realized that he could move both of his wrists freely. He used the time while Niska tortured Jayne to twist and pull at the strap on his right arm. After awhile he could feel blood begin to flow freely from his wrist where he had rubbed the skin away. It hurt to continue pulling at the strap but Simon had learned in the past days that physical pain was something that one could block out if they had to. The blood dripping down onto his hand actually helped to lubricate the strap and after a few more painful tugs Simon was able to wrench his right hand free.

Once his arm was free it occurred to Simon that he wasn't sure what to do next. He'd been so focused on trying to free his arm and then the triumph of accomplishing it, that he hadn't actually thought to make a plan. Moving as slowly as he could Simon reached his arm behind his back and after a few minutes of trying he was able to undo the strap that held his left arm as well. This was the most freedom that Simon had had in days and he almost wanted to cry with the joy of it.

Instead of weeping he did his best to look like he was still strapped down. Because of his blindness Simon couldn't know if Niska was looking in his direction, but Jayne's continuing screams made him feel confident that Niska was paying him no attention.

Since being blinded Simon had learned to rely on his hearing to tell him things about his environment and one sound Simon was all to familiar with in this room was the metallic clink of the instruments that Niska used on them. He slowly reached his right arm out a few inches confident that he would find the table where Niska kept his tools. Simon smiled slightly when his hand connected with the edge of a medical tray. He felt around the table until he found a tool that he was extremely familiar with himself; a scalpel.

Unless Simon counted the Reavers on Miranda he'd never taken a human life before. As he held the scalpel tightly in his hand and moved silently behind Niska that thought occurred to him, but it never slowed him down. He thought back over the days of pain and humiliation that he and Jayne had been subjected to and he thought about River being in the monster's hands. It suddenly occurred to Simon that killing Niska wasn't taking a human life he was simply ridding the Verse of something vile and evil.

Niska was so absorbed in torturing Jayne that he never sensed Simon standing directly behind him. Simon plunged the scalpel into Niska's neck and in one fluid motion slit his throat. Simon could feel warm wet blood flowing over his hand, but it wasn't until Niska fell to the floor that Simon realized what he had done. He expected guards to rush in at any moment and kill him, but they never came. He had killed Niska so quickly and quietly that no one outside the cell was aware that anything was wrong with their boss.

Simon stepped over Niska's body and reached out his hands until he connected with Jayne. Jayne was breathing but didn't seem to be conscious.

"Jayne wake up. Come on please wake up Jayne." Simon pleaded as he lightly slapped Jayne's cheek.

Jayne groaned and pulled his head away from the hand tapping his face. He assumed it was Niska trying to wake him up to continue the torture. It took a second for Jayne's confused brain to realize that it was Simon speaking to him. He forced his eyes opened and was shocked to find Simon standing in front of him; untied and covered in fresh blood. Jayne glanced down and saw Niska's prone form on the floor in a large pool of blood.

"How in the ruttin hell did ya do that?" Jayne whispered in a hoarse voice.

"I was able to get free and grab a scalpel off the table." Simon explained.

"We gotta get outta here, you got a plan?" Jayne asked as Simon untied him from the table.

"Didn't really have time to think of one, sorry."

"Well fortunate for you I got one." Jayne replied.

He leaned over and began searching through Niska's clothes until he found an ident card in one of the pockets.

"I got his ident card; it should open any door in the complex." Jayne explained.

"Yeah but once we get out the door won't we just run into guards?" Simon asked skeptically.

"We ain't goin out the door. We're goin up the air vent. But if we open the door then the guards'll think we went out it." Jayne explained.

"What do we do once we're up in the air vent?" Simon asked skeptically.

"Didn't have a chance to think that far ahead, but I'm thinkin we find a place to hide until we come up with somethin that'll get us the ruttin hell outta this place."

"Well I guess it's the best plan we have." Simon conceded.

It took them a quiet awhile to loosen the metal grating covering the vent shaft. Niska had spent the previous day breaking several of their fingers and trying to work the screws out of the vent was nearly impossible, but neither man was willing to give up on the only plan they had. They worked as quickly as possible, but both men froze in fear each time they heard a noise from outside of the room. They were convinced that a guard would walk in at any moment and find them, but no one ever came. Finally they were able to pull the vent cover free and drag one of the metal tables directly under the vent. Jayne waited until Simon had climbed completely into the vent and then he used Niska's card to open the door before he climbed into the vent himself. Once they were both inside Jayne carefully replaced the vent cover, hoping that no one would notice the screws missing from it.

"Now what?" Simon whispered.

"I think we should try and get as close to the shuttle bay as possible. Maybe we can take one and get outta here fore anyone finds out what we did." Jayne suggested.

"Don't you mean what I did?" Simon asked.

"Hey I got us outta there and I'd a killed that hun-dan myself, but I don't got girlie wrists that can slip outta restraints like you do." Jayne replied.

"Fair enough. So you lead the way I guess." Simon answered.

They crawled through dusty twisting vents for over an hour without finding the shuttle bay. Eventually Jayne found a storage closet filled with empty and half empty crates of food and they were able to loosen the grating and slip in unnoticed. They found a box of protein bars and took them into a crate that was large enough for both of them to fit into. They ripped into the protein bars ravenously and after they'd eaten both men fell fast asleep for the first time in days.

On board Serenity River struggled to wake up. Her body was exhausted and the sedative her father had given her was still working strongly, but something in River's head was screaming for her to wake up. She opened her eyes slowly and sat up trying to clear the fogginess from her mind. Something had changed from the previous six and a half days, but she couldn't grasp what it was for a bit. Then suddenly it occurred to her that her mind was quiet. She could still feel Jayne and Simon in her mind, but for the first time neither of them were in pain. Both of them were deeply asleep and the fear that had been so loud in both their heads was quiet for the moment.

River climbed from her bunk and into the bunk Mal and Inara shared without bothering to knock. She shook the Captain's shoulder until he woke up with a start.

"Wha?" He mumbled still half asleep.

"Captain it's time to go get them back." River said confidently.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Captain it's time to go get them back." River said confidently.

Mal stared at River in sleepy confusion.

"Time to get them back? Right now in the middle a the night?" Mal asked.

"Something happened. Niska doesn't have them anymore, they're hiding. If we act now we can get them out." River explained as she pulled Mal towards the hatch to his bunk.

"Mal?" Inara called out in confusion.

"Headin up to the bridge with River, she says she knows how to get the boys back." Mal explained.

Inara jumped out of bed and followed the two up to the bridge.

"So you wanna tell me what ya know Lil' Albatross?" Mal asked once the three of them were standing upstairs.

"I don't know the details, but Simon and Jayne aren't being hurt anymore. They're both asleep and more comfortable than they've been since they were taken." River explained.

"You said they were hiding. Where are they hidin at? Still on the space station?"

River looked off into space and cocked her head to the side. Mal and Inara both remained quiet while they allowed River the time she needed to read the situation.

"They're still on the station. Somewhere small and dark, but they're well hidden, safe for now. I don't know anymore than that Captain, sorry."

"So you got any ideas as to how to go bout gettin em?" Mal asked.

"Electro Magnetic Pulse." River said.

"How exactly do you think an EMP is gonna help us? Even if Kaylee can boost our EMP strength it's not gonna be anywhere near enough to knock out the power to the whole station."

"It would knock out all the power if we could link directly to the space station. I think I could project enough for Simon to know where we were and be able to make it to us. If we knock out the power everyone on board would be confused for a few minutes and in the dark Simon would have the advantage."

"Yeah, that ain't gonna work for a bunch a different reasons. One- to link to the station and then blow the EMP would knock out all of Serenity's power as well and then we couldn't get away. Two- You don't even know for sure where they are on the station and if they could make it to us. Three- And most important; you gotta be close to Simon to project to him and there ain't no way I'm lettin you anywhere near that station. You got any idea how much Niska would want ya if he knew what you could do? No way it ain't happening." Mal argued.

"We don't have to take the ship to the station. Kaylee could wire the EMP into one of the shuttles. It wouldn't take very long for a shuttle to re-power after the EMP goes off, we would have time to escape. As to your second argument I'm confident that Jayne and Simon are both aware that getting to a shuttle is the only way they can escape and I'm sure they will head to the shuttle bay as soon as the power goes out. And as for your final argument; I'm not a child and you know that I am more than capable of protecting myself. That is my brother and soon to be husband that need to be rescued." River finished smugly.

"Which is exactly why ya ain't goin Lil' Albatross. What if you did get hurt or taken by Niska? Don't you think Simon and Jayne have gone through enough? They don't need that kinda guilt piled on top a everything else. Plus no offense, but since they got taken you ain't been too stable and that's been with you readin them from the across the planet. What happens if you get close to em and have a fit?" Mal responded.

River sighed in frustration, but realized that Mal was right. Simon and Jayne's thoughts and feelings had been fractured and painful for her to read even from so far away. No matter how much she wanted to help, she realized that the chances of her having an episode where high. It also occurred to her suddenly that she was now responsible for her child's life as well and she knew that neither Jayne nor Simon would want her putting herself or the baby in that kind of danger.

"Alright I'll stay behind, but this means that we must make adjustments to the plan and we must make them quickly." River conceded.

"Tell ya what. You go wake up Kaylee, let her know what's happenin, and help her get the EMP wired into the shuttle. I'm gonna go get Zoe and we'll start comin' up with a plan." Mal reassured her as he pushed her towards the door.

"River I need ya ta tell me the truth. Do ya really think we can get em back?" Kaylee asked fearfully as she and River worked on wiring the EMP into the shuttle.

River took her time in answering causing Kaylee to become even more afraid.

"I believe that we can get them back, but it won't be easy." River finally replied.

Kaylee drew in a shaky breath and River saw her eyes well up with tears. She moved carefully over to her sister in law and put her arms around her.

"I'm just so scared ya know? What if we don't get em back? Or what if we do get em back and Niska hurt em so bad that they're…" Kaylee trailed off and began to cry harder.

"You're worried that they'll be broken, crazy?" River asked smiling.

"Yes." Kaylee admitted, knowing it was pointless to try and hide her feelings from River.

"If they are broken then we will just put them back together. Besides you love me right? And I'm still a little broken." River replied.

Kaylee sucked in a breath and wiped the tears from her face as she hugged River back.

"You're right, no more crying we gotta work on gettin em back." Kaylee said as she turned back to the wiring she had been working on.

"You do realize this is one of your crazier plans Sir. And that's sayin somethin." Zoe commented after Mal had finished explaining his idea.

"Hey it's got everything we need; subterfuge, distraction, and me gettin ta be all heroic." Mal replied defensively.

"Captain River told us that you've come up with a plan to get our son back." Gabriel said as he and Reagan walked into the room. They'd been woken up a few minutes before by Kaylee and River who told them that they needed to use their shuttle to go get Simon and Jayne.

"We're working on it right now." Mal said distractedly.

"What exactly is the plan so far Captain?" Reagan asked as she and Gabriel sat down at the table.

"We're gonna take the shuttle up to the station, tell em we're havin mechanical difficulties, and request to dock. Once we're attached to the station, we blow the EMP which'll knock out the power to the station. Kaylee's wiring things up so that they won't know where the power outage came from. Once they're distracted by the black out we find Simon and Jayne and get onto one of Niska's shuttles, steal it, head back to the ship, and go to full burn soon as we get here." Mal replied feeling very proud of his plan.

"Why are you going to steal one of Niska's shuttles instead of just getting back onto yours?" Gabriel questioned.

"Cause we're gonna use it for a distraction. Once we're on the other shuttle and away from the station, we're gonna remote detonate the shuttle. That'll make it all manner of difficult for them to chase after us."

"You're going to blow up the shuttle? Are you sure that is a good idea? What if you aren't far enough away from the station when it blows up?" Reagan asked.

"We'll have the bomb wired to a remote; we won't blow it until we're far enough away to be safe."

"It seems like that could work, but I have one question. Who is going to go over and get them on the shuttle?" Gabriel asked.

"Zoe and I are gonna go." Mal answered.

"But haven't both of you been seen by Niska and his men when the Captain was captured? Surely they aren't going to allow you to dock with them when they know who you are."

"We ain't plannin on sendin em a visual wave, just audio. Plus what're the chances that Niska himself or any of the few men we saw last time are gonna be the ones to get the wave?" Mal retorted.

"Do you really want to take that chance?" Gabriel argued further.

"Well who exactly do you suggest we send? River or Kaylee I can tell ya right now that ain't gonna happen."

"No of course you shouldn't send the girls, you should send me." Gabriel replied.

"You?" Mal blurted out with a laugh.

"Captain I'm a rich man and I know how to behave as one. I'm sure I could easily convince whoever accepts the wave to allow me to dock with the station." Gabriel replied calmly.

"Yeah, but we gotta a couple a problems with that plan. One do you know how to pilot a shuttle or how to restart one after an EMP is blown? Also Simon and Jayne are gonna be needin doctorin when we get back and that means you. I can't take the chance a you gettin' killed."

"Send me then." Reagan blurted out suddenly.

"No." Gabriel and Mal both replied in unison.

"It makes perfect sense. Being a woman I can probably convince them to allow me to dock even easier than Gabriel could and I'm not a doctor so you won't need my skills once we get back. Also I know how to pilot a shuttle so that won't be a problem either."

Everyone was silent while they thought over the sense in Reagan's idea.

"It could work Sir. You and Mrs. Tam could go over on the shuttle. She could send the wave and dock the shuttle. Once you blow the EMP you could go find Simon and Jayne while she sneaks in and restarts one of their shuttles. If Niska's men see her in the shuttle bay during the black out they probably won't have time to question it." Zoe finally said.

"No I don't want Reagan going over there." Gabriel objected.

Reagan smiled at her husband's concern and gently laid a hand on his arm.

"Gabe this is Simon. We have to do everything we can to get him back. We've hurt our children enough for a lifetime. It's time we think about what's solely in their best interest now."

Gabriel looked at her solemnly and then nodded his head slowly.

"You sure bout this Mrs. Tam? There's a good chance ain't none of us'll come back from this." Mal told her.

"Call me Reagan please and yes I'm sure." She replied and gave the Captain the same steely gaze that he recognized clearly from River. He could see now where his Reader had gotten so much of her strength from.

Thirty minutes later the shuttle was wired with the EMP and they were ready to leave. Gabriel stood in the cargo bay holding his wife tightly in his arms.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked for the thousandth time.

"Gabe, ai-ren, it's going to be fine. Stop worrying so much." She replied lightly and gave her husband a slow and deep kiss.

Mal was similarly kissing Inara goodbye in the door to the shuttle.

"Be careful Mal, please. And I don't mean your definition of careful. I mean a completely sane person's definition of being careful, dong ma?" Inara asked.

"I'll do my best I promise." Mal assured her. "Reagan you ready?" He called over the edge of the catwalk.

"Just one more minute Captain." Reagan called up to him.

Reagan walked over to where Kaylee and River were standing with their arms around each other for comfort.

"River baby, if- well if something happens…" Reagan began.

"Don't." River said as she placed one of her fingers against Reagan's lips to quiet her. "Don't say goodbye."

"But if something happens I want to know I made things right with you." Reagan argued.

"Shh… I don't need you to say it. I know." River assured her mother and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Love you too." She whispered into her mother's ear.

Reagan rubbed her eyes to clear the tears away and then turned quickly and pulled Kaylee into a hug.

"I'm so glad Simon found someone as wonderful as you." She told the mechanic and then leaned over to kiss Josh who was sleeping in his mother's arms.

"And you my little grandson are going to be just as handsome as your daddy, I can see that already." She whispered.

"We gotta go." Mal called down once again.

Regan straightened up and gave the two younger women a brave smile before heading up the stairs towards the shuttle.

Zoe and Inara walked over to join River and Kaylee. Mal smiled down at the women of his crew and found himself wondering once again how he had managed to get four such beautiful women on his crew. He smiled and nodded at them, but didn't say goodbye. It had become something of a tradition among the crew to never make farewells before a job. They went into everything with the intention of coming back and there was no other way to do it.

"This is a brave thing you're doin." Mal commented a few minutes later as he and Regan flew towards the station.

"No it's not brave. It's the kind of thing I should have been willing to do eight years ago. I failed both my children back then, I hope I can make up for it today." Regan answered as she leaned over to press the Cortex button and send the wave to the space station.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Simon groaned and shifted uncomfortably in the cramped crate. He tried to shift around and only succeeded in waking Jayne up.

"Sorry you were laying on my arm." Simon whispered.

"S'ok how long you think we been out?" Jayne asked.

"No idea. What do you think we should do now? We can't just stay in this crate." Simon asked.

"Don't really know. Keep tryin ta find the shuttle bay I guess. You hear anything out there?" Jayne asked knowing that Simon's sense of hearing was better than his own.

"No not since they searched in here right after we came in. I still can't believe they didn't find us."

"Yeah well ya really think anyone who'd work for Niska is gonna be smart?" Jayne asked.

"Good point. Can you see anything out there?"

Jayne moved slightly and looked through the small opening in the crate lid.

"Nope, don't see anybody in here and the doors shut." Jayne told him as he climbed out of the crate slowly.

Once both men were standing in the small cramped room Jayne looked around until he found a piece of pipe leaning against one wall. He was forced to hold it in his left hand because of the broken fingers on his right, but he figured he could still do damage to someone even if he was using his other hand.

"Alright we're gonna head outta here slowly. You stay behind me and hold on ta my shoulder. If I tell ya ta get down do it fast." Jayne instructed in a harsh whisper.

"Got it." Simon replied.

Jayne's hand was wrapped around the door handle and he was preparing to pull it open when the lights above them went out, plunging the room into total darkness. Jayne froze and waited with his ear pressed against the door. After only a few seconds he could hear confused shouts and stomping feet running past the storage room where they were hiding.

"What's going on out there?" Simon asked.

"Don't know fer sure but the lights just went out in here." Jayne answered.

He slowly eased the door open and glanced into the hallway, but was unable to see anything; he could however hear several men running past him shouting. One of them seemed to be in charge and was ordering the other men to the engine room. Far off down the hall he could make out the bouncing light coming from a few flashlights, but they were heading away from him.

"Looks like the power's out in the whole place, lotsa people out here runnin around all confused." Jayne whispered over his shoulder to Simon.

"Maybe it's Serenity. Seems like knocking out the power to the place is something Mal would do."

"Could be. One way or the other seems like a good time for us to be gettin the ruttin hell outta here." Jayne replied and pushed Simon in front of him. "I can't see a gorram thing out here so looks like you're gonna be leadin."

Simon put one hand against the wall to help guide him and began walking in the direction that Jayne had directed him in. He stopped a second later and laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" Jayne whispered sounding irritated.

"There's a sign on the wall right here."

"So? Ya can't see it anyway. Why the hell is that funny?" Jayne asked sounding even more irritated.

"Yeah but this sign is also written in Braille. Can you believe a psycho path like Niska would be considerate enough to put up signs in his place for blind people?" Simon chuckled.

"Well who the hell cares why they got signs for blind people, can ya read it?"

"Yes. It says that the shuttle bay is the other way." Simon answered and turned around.

"That's the way the guys with flash lights were headin." Jayne said.

"The sign says we're heading towards the mess hall."

"Alright well we don't wanna go deeper in the place, so guess we just head towards the shuttle bay and hope we don't run inta anyone." Jayne decided and began following Simon down the hallway.

Suddenly they could hear footsteps running up the hallway from behind them. Jayne and Simon pressed themselves up against the wall and the person ran right by them without even slowing down.

They found the shuttle bay a few minutes later and still had not been discovered by any of Niska's men. The lack of problems in their escape so far was making Jayne even more nervous than if they had run into someone.

Small emergency lights had been set up along the floor on one side of the room and while it still wasn't easy to see, the shuttle bay was lighter than the hallway they had just been in. Jayne pulled Simon down behind a stack of crates and then glanced cautiously around the room. His heart seemed to stop beating for a moment when he suddenly realized that one of the shuttles docked near the outside of the station was from Serenity.

"Simon I see one a the shuttles from Serenity."

"Do you see Mal or Zoe?" Simon whispered hopefully.

"No just the shuttle. Oh go-se!" Jayne muttered.

"What? What's the matter?" Simon whispered frantically.

"Yer ma just came outta the shuttle. What in the ruttin hell do ya think she's doin here?"

"My mother? I have no idea why she'd be here. Can we get to her?" Simon asked.

"I don't know, she just ducked inta the shuttle next to ours. Don't rightly know why." Jayne explained.

Jayne stood up and was about to head towards Reagan when suddenly someone grabbed him from behind and put a hand over his mouth. Jayne had always prided himself on his ability to stay calm in dangerous situations; it was one thing that made him such a good mercenary. In the moment when the hand went over his mouth Jayne lost any sense of calm he'd had and began frantically struggling like a caged animal. The only thing he could think about was being recaptured and what would happen if he was put back into the white room.

"Jayne gorram it calm down it's me." Mal whispered harshly into Jayne's ear. Jayne relaxed quickly and turned around to face the Captain.

"Mal? How did ya- I mean what is Simon's ma doin-?" Jayne stuttered.

"How bout we talk bout everything once we get outta here?" Mal suggested.

Simon had stepped out from behind the crate when he'd heard the Captain speaking.

"Come on we gotta hurry and get outta here fore anyone sees what we're up to." Mal said and lead the two men over to the shuttle that Reagan had entered.

"Uh Mal don't we wanna get inta our shuttle?" Jayne asked.

"Nope we gotta little surprise planned for Niska." Mal snickered.

Reagan stepped out from the bridge of the shuttle when she heard the three men enter. She gasped and put a hand over her mouth when she saw Simon stumble into the shuttle. She couldn't believe that the man standing in front of her was the same son she'd seen only a week before. He and Jayne had both lost a noticeable amount of weight, their clothes were both in tatters and blood covered, and their didn't seem to be even an inch of visible skin that wasn't covered by a cut, burn, or bruise.

"Oh Simon." She sobbed and ran forward to gently embrace her son.

"Mom you shouldn't be here, it's too dangerous." Simon complained and pushed his mother further into the shuttle.

"We gotta get outta here now. Reagan you got the shuttle ready ta go?" Mal asked as he moved up to the bridge.

"Yes it's powered up and ready, we just need to open the shuttle locks and then we can…" Reagan was cut off suddenly when one of Niska's men glanced into the shuttle and noticed Simon and Jayne.

The man yelled something unintelligible, roughly grabbed Simon around the throat, and pulled him from the doorway of the shuttle.

"No!" Reagan screamed and dashed out after her son.

"Tzao-gao!" Mal shouted and ran after Reagan. "Jayne get them locks disengaged now!" He instructed over his shoulder as he ran out the door.

Simon was struggling to get out of the stranglehold that the guard had him in as Reagan hit the man from behind to try and get him to let go. Mal pulled Reagan away from the guard and then in one smooth motion he pulled the guard off of Simon. Simon went crashing to the ground and Mal winced when he heard the loud clang as Simon's head connected with the ramp of the shuttle. Simon falling was just enough of a distraction to allow the guard to turn around and hit Mal in the jaw with the butt of his gun. Mal's head flew back with the force of the blow and he staggered a little, trying hard to stay on his feet.

It only took a second for Mal's head to clear, but it was enough time for the guard to take aim and fire at Simon who was laying sprawled unconscious across shuttle's ramp.

Reagan who hadn't been distracted by getting hit in the face with a gun did have time to react. Just as the guard fired she screamed and threw herself on top of Simon. Mal watched as blood began to pour from Reagan's back. She pushed herself up slightly and then fell back on top of her son. It seemed like that moment lasted forever to Mal but when he would look back on it later he realized the entire fight had taken less than ten seconds.

After the shock of the hit to the face cleared Mal quickly pulled out his own pistol and shot the guard in the head. From behind him he could hear the sound of more guards rushing towards them drawn by the gunshots.

"Jayne help me!" Mal screamed. Jayne ran out of the shuttle and took in the scene before him with a look of shocked horror for a second before he carefully picked up Reagan's bloody form and ran into the shuttle. Mal grabbed Simon by one arm and pulled him onto the shuttle and then dropped him roughly to the ground as he slammed the door shut and engaged the lock.

Mal could hear gunshots and people pounding on the door of the shuttle, but even with the distractions the Captain thought he'd never gotten a shuttle flying so fast in his life.

Within two minutes they were far enough away from the space station to allow Mal to remote detonate the shuttle. He couldn't hear the explosion, but he could feel the shock wave from it hit the shuttle and when he did a proximity scan a moment later he was relieved to find that no other shuttles had followed them.

Pushing the shuttle to the limit of its speed capabilities Mal locked onto Serenity and put the shuttle on autopilot. When he left the bridge he found Simon still sprawled on the ground where he had left him and Jayne trying to stop the flow of blood coming from Reagan's chest where the bullet had exited. Mal pushed Jayne to the side so he could see how badly the woman had been hurt. He only had to take one look at her to know it was bad, she'd taken the bullet point blank and Mal had enough medical knowledge to know that the bullet had most likely hit her in the left lung and possibly the heart as well. The amount of blood she was losing suggested that he was correct in his assumption.

"Jayne go see if ya can get Simon to wake up. We're gonna need him." Mal instructed.

"Mal, Simon ain't wakin up. His heads bleedin, I think he's hurt pretty bad." Jayne called out over his shoulder a few minutes later.

"S'ok Jayne. We don't need him anymore, she's gone." Mal replied quietly as he tried in vain one last time to find a pulse.

"You sure Mal, maybe ya should check again." Jayne said as he moved over to Mal. He looked down at the woman who was supposed to become his mother in law and knew that she was gone the moment he looked at her; he didn't need Mal to check again. Her entire chest and stomach were covered in blood and her face was shockingly pale.

Jayne couldn't stop thinking about how he was going to tell River that her ma was gone. He remembered the last night they'd been together before he'd been taken by Niska. She had curled up in bed beside him and Jayne could so clearly remember the peaceful glowing look she'd had on her face.

"Why you lookin so happy baby doll?" He'd asked as he leaned over to kiss her goodnight.

"Family." She said simply and returned the kiss.

"Glad ta have yer folks on board?"

River smiled and nodded her head.

"Our family is growing. It makes me happy." She replied.

"Yeah guess it is nice havin yer whole family here." Jayne replied, but then noticed that River had already fallen fast asleep curled against his side.

Jayne drew in a deep breath to try and clear his head of the memories of how happy he and River had been such a short time before this had all begun. Jayne fell to the ground then; his battered and abused body finally giving out on him, now that the adrenaline from the escape was out of his system. Even as sleep began to take him and his eyes started to become heavy he couldn't seem to get the image of Reagan's bloody body out of his mind.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It only took them an hour to reach Serenity and to Mal's relief they didn't seem to be followed by anyone from the space station.

"Kaylee we're nearly there, get the engines ready to go, I wanna be at full burn the second we're docked." Mal instructed.

"Cap'n do ya got Simon and Jayne? Are they alive?" Kaylee asked hopefully over the comm. unit.

"I got em mei-mei, they're both alive." Mal assured her.

Kaylee didn't respond back and Mal figured she was probably getting the engines ready to go and having a huge cry at the same time.

Mal turned around to glance at the scene behind him. Simon was still lying on the ground although Mal had taken the time to cover him up with a blanket and put another under his head as a pillow, he still hadn't shown any sign of coming to since hitting his head and Mal was beginning to worry. Jayne had also fallen asleep soon after they had made it clear of the station. It made Mal shudder when he looked at his two crew members and saw how badly they had suffered at the hands of an enemy who was after him. Without even looking closely Mal could see that both men had been whipped repeatedly, burned, cut with something sharp, and both of them bared the same circular burn mark in the center of their chests that he himself still carried.

He forced his eyes away from the two men, but the only other thing in the small shuttle was the still form of Reagan covered up with a blanket. He was dreading returning to the ship and having to break the news to River and Simon, it seemed so unfair that the Verse would give them their mother back only to take her away forever so soon after.

He docked the ship a few minutes later and when he opened the door all four of the women along with Gabriel and both children were waiting for him.

"Inara?" Mal called before he left the shuttle.

Inara hurried over to him quickly.

"Bao-bei can you take Alex and Josh into yer old shuttle? I don't want Alex seein Jayne and Simon like this, it'll scare her and I'm not sure if Kaylee's gonna be able ta take care a Josh once she sees Simon." Mal instructed.

Inara had been looking over his shoulder into the shuttle while he'd been talking to her and he could see the look of shock on her lovely face. Her eyes were wet with tears and her lower lip was trembling.

"Oh God Mal, what did he do to them?" She asked.

"I know it looks bad, but they're alive and safe. I think right now that's all that matters." Mal replied gently.

Inara turned and began to walk away, but then stopped and turned back to face Mal. "Reagan?" She asked in a hushed tone.

Mal didn't need to answer; the look on his face told the Companion everything she needed to know. Inara's eyes again welled up with tears. She quickly wiped them away and put a smile on her face.

"Hey Alex I'm need your help watching Josh in my shuttle so Aunt Kaylee can take care of Uncle Simon, you wanna come help me?" Inara asked brightly as she took Josh from Kaylee's arms.

"Is that ok mommy?" Alex asked.

"Fine baby, you go help Aunt Inara like a big girl for mommy." Zoe said.

As soon as Inara and the two children had disappeared into the other shuttle River let out a strangled sob and fell to her knees.

"River what's wrong?" Gabriel asked as he leaned down to embrace his daughter.

"She's gone." River whimpered through her tears.

"Reagan? She's- No oh please no." Gabriel sobbed as he held River in his arms and rocked them both back and forth.

Mal closed his eyes against the anguished sounds of Gabriel and River crying in each other's arms. He allowed them a minute to grieve and then pulled Gabriel to his feet.

"I'm sorry bout yer wife. She was a mighty brave woman and she died protectin yer son." Mal said knowing that whatever he said wouldn't be a comfort to the grieving husband.

"I wish I could let ya both have all the time ya need ta cry and get this out, but right now Simon and Jayne both need you ta help em." Mal ordered Gabriel gently.

Gabriel continued to stare at Mal for a second with a shocked look of disbelief and then suddenly his eyes cleared and the doctor in him took over.

"Of course, let's get them to the infirmary." Gabriel instructed.

He and Mal carefully put Simon onto a stretcher and carried him out of the shuttle. It surprised Mal that River was the one to pull a nearly hysterical Kaylee into her arms and calm her down after Kaylee saw the condition that her husband was in. Mal had thought that losing her mother combined with seeing her brother and fiancé hurt so badly would have sent River into a panic, but she seemed to be holding together.

Once both men had been moved into the infirmary Gabriel sedated Jayne and then began to assess and treat their various injuries while River and Kaylee held vigil outside on the couch. Mal remained with the doctor to help him as best he could. Zoe went to the bridge to make sure that they were still on course and not being followed.

"They gonna be ok? Simon still ain't wakin up, that can't be good." Mal asked quietly so Kaylee wouldn't overhear.

"The scan indicates he has a mild concussion. I think the head injury combined with severe dehydration is causing the unconsciousness. He should wake up once we get some fluids into him." Gabriel assured Mal while he started i.v.'s on both patients.

Gabriel worked for over two hours before he finally left the room and sank down on the couch and turned to address Kaylee, River, and Mal.

"If neither of them develops an infection they should both recover, physically. As for the emotional damage done to them, we're just going to have to wait and see. But I do want to warn you that it's not going to be an easy recovery for either of them. The things that monster did to them… well if I guess correctly I would say it's going to be rough for awhile." Gabriel said gravely.

"When are they gonna wake up?" Kaylee asked through her tears.

"I gave both of them a smoother, I would say that combined with the trauma they've been through both of them will be asleep for at least twelve hours possibly more. Right now sleeping is the best thing for them both."

"Alright then I want you two to go get some sleep as well. Simon and Jayne are gonna need ya somethin fierce when they wake up and you both look like yer about to drop. Gabriel and I will stay and look after em while they're out and Inara is gonna keep watchin Josh so don't worry none bout him Kaylee." Mal ordered.

Kaylee and River looked like they wanted to stay, but neither of them argued with the Captain and they both reluctantly left for their bunks.

Gabriel had sunk back onto the couch and was staring up at the ceiling with a blank look on his face.

"I really am so sorry fer what happened to Reagan. It's my fault I shoulda looked after her better." Mal said regretfully.

"I don't blame you Captain. We all knew how dangerous going over there was going to be. She knew there was a chance she wouldn't come back. How did it happen?" Gabriel asked.

"It was right after Simon got knocked out some hun-dan was aiming to shoot him in the back and Reagan threw herself on top of him. She died savin him." Mal replied.

"That sounds like Reagan. I know you must think we're the worst parents in the Verse, but Reagan loved Simon and River more than you can imagine. It was killing her not having them in her life. I'm so thankful she got them back before…" Gabriel began to sob then unable to continue speaking.

Mal put one hand on the man's shoulder hoping to give him even a small measure of comfort.

"What that man did to Simon, I just don't know… how is he supposed to get over something like that? Hasn't the Verse done enough to him, why would it take his mother too?" Gabriel said as he continued to sob.

"I know it ain't fair, but Simon's a strong man. He'll get through this you'll see." Mal assured him.

"Do you want us to set a heading to Osiris? Is that where Reagan would want to be buried?" Mal asked.

"Simon and River wouldn't be able to go to the funeral on Osiris would they?" Gabriel asked quietly.

"No I reckon that would be a bad idea." Mal answered.

"Then I don't want to go there. My children have the right to see their mother laid to rest. I'm not sure where we should go."

"I'll take care of it." Mal said.

Gabriel nodded his head, but didn't say anything more. Mal squeezed his shoulder once more and then stood up and headed towards the bridge.

Zoe was sitting in what had been her husband's seat staring out at the stars.

"How are they Sir?" She asked without turning around.

"Tore up pretty bad, but Dr. Tam thinks they'll recover. That crazy hunzhang worked em over hard."

"You got any plan as to where I should be headin?" Zoe asked.

"Set a heading for Haven." Mal said quietly.

Zoe nodded her head in understanding and began to set in the course.

Neither Simon nor Jayne woke up until the afternoon of the following day. Jayne woke up in a panic; screaming and fighting against the restraints that he thought were still on his wrists. Mal and Gabriel held him down while he thrashed and fought against them.

River began to run her hand through Jayne's hair and whisper words of comfort into his ear, slowly he began to calm down until he was relaxed again.

"Hey baby doll. You ok? Ya got shot." Jayne whispered once he became calm.

"Fine ai-ren, I'm just fine." She whispered back as she continued to run her hand through his hair. Jayne stared up at her and then slowly his face crumbled and he began to cry. Mal had never imagined seeing the tough merc cry, seeing it was almost worse than seeing the injuries covering his body. Without making a sound he and Gabriel stepped from the room and left the couple alone.

When Simon woke up it wasn't with the panic that Jayne had. Kaylee rushed to his side as soon as she noticed that he was beginning to stir.

"It's ok Simon. Yer back on Serenity. " Kaylee assured her husband.

"Is Jayne here too?" He asked in a hoarse voice.

"Right here Simon." Jayne replied from the bed next to him.

"What about my mom and Mal? Did everyone make it back safely?" Simon asked.

Kaylee had hoped she wouldn't have to break the news to him quite so soon, but she realized that no matter when she told him it would be just as hard.

"Simon I gotta tell ya somethin'. Yer ma, well she didn't make it." Kaylee whispered softly.

"She's dead?" He asked. He sounded completely calm, but Kaylee knew him well enough to know that he was barely holding things together.

"I'm so sorry ai-ren. Mal says she died savin ya. She was real brave." Kaylee comforted.

Simon gripped Kaylee's hand tightly and took in a shaky breath.

"She died saving me?" Simon asked disbelieving. Kaylee brushed a strand of hair away from Simon's face and kissed him lightly on the temple. Simon gripped Kaylee's shoulder hard with his good hand and buried his face into her hair and began to sob.

"It's alright ai-ren I'm right here. You're safe now." Kaylee murmured as she gently stroked his back, being careful not to hurt the lash marks that ran up and down his flesh.

Simon and Jayne both fell back asleep soon after that and didn't wake up until they were only a few hours away from Haven.

Reagan was buried the next day next to Shepherd Book. Her headstone displayed a holo-vid that Kaylee had taken two weeks after they arrived on the ship. In it Reagan smiled proudly as she held her grandson in her arms.

The service they held for her was short, but heartfelt. After it was over the rest of the crew silently visited the graves of Wash and Book before returning to the ship and leaving the Tam family alone.

"I'm sorry Dad." Simon said, breaking the silence that they had been standing in.

"It wasn't your fault Simon. I don't want you blaming yourself. Your mother loved you so much; she wouldn't want you to blame yourself either. I'm sure wherever Reagan is, she's happy about the decision she made. I'm sure choosing to save you was the easiest choice she's ever made." Gabriel assured him as he put his arms around his children and led them back to the ship.

River stopped before they had reached Serenity and ran back to her mother's grave. Gabriel could see that River was talking, but he couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Where did River go?" Simon asked.

"She ran back to your mother's grave. She's talking about something, she looks happy, she's smiling." Gabriel replied.

"What was that about?" Simon asked her when she returned.

"Just a mother daughter conversation that we never got to have, but I know she heard me now and she's happy for me." River explained.

"Happy for you? Why?" Simon asked.

"Not the time for secrets yet big brother. You'll know soon enough." River replied and then headed off to check on Jayne.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Over the next two months Gabriel's prediction about Simon and Jayne's emotional recovery being difficult proved to be true.

Jayne continued to wake up in a panic every time he opened his eyes, Mal and Gabriel would have to restrain him and a few times he had to be sedated to stop him from hurting himself. It was River who realized that the infirmary was causing his fear; it seemed her lover had developed the same aversion to the infirmary that she herself had. When he thought about the torture his mind always focused on the bright white room they'd been held in; a white room that resembled the infirmary. Once she realized what the problem was they moved Jayne back to his bunk to recover and he no longer had panic attacks upon waking.

While Simon didn't have a problem with the infirmary he did develop a fear of people touching him when he wasn't prepared for it. Gabriel attributed this to the fact that because Simon couldn't see he had never known exactly when the torture was going to happen, it had surprised and shocked him every time. Once they were safe Simon still couldn't stand to be surprised by anyone and the crew quickly learned to speak to Simon before approaching him.

The one symptom both men shared was the nightmares. Simon and Jayne both had dreams every night about the space station, most of the time they would wake up screaming.

Everyone on board had been prepared for the difficult adjustment that Jayne and Simon would have to go through, but no one had considered how difficult it would be for their significant others, especially River. Being a reader she often saw dreams as well as thoughts. She woke up screaming right along with Jayne as she was forced to see his dreams. Everyone on board began to notice the toll it was taking on River; she became pale, withdrawn, and quiet.

One night during dinner River stood up to get more water and before anyone could react she hit the floor in a dead faint.

Mal rushed over to her quickly, picked her up, and carried her to the infirmary with Jayne, Simon, and Gabriel close at his heels. Jayne stopped short at the door to the infirmary and looked around with fear. Mal was worried that he would have another panic attack, but then Jayne's eyes settled on River. He took a deep breath and walked calmly into the room.

"River bao-bei? Come on wake up baby doll." Jayne murmured soothingly in her ear. River moaned a little and then her eyes fluttered open.

"Take it slow River. You fainted in the galley and we brought you down here." Gabriel explained.

River gave her father a deep knowing look and Gabriel sighed.

"Can I have everyone leave the room please so I can run a few tests on River?" Gabriel asked.

Simon and Jayne immediately began to protest.

"I should stay dad, I know her medical history and I could help out." Simon argued.

"I don't wanna leave her alone, case she gets scared." Jayne said.

"I promise both of you she'll be perfectly fine. I just want the room to be a little calmer and less crowded while I examine her. You can both come back in shortly." Gabriel promised as he pushed both men towards the couch where Mal was waiting.

Once he had the door securely shut Gabriel turned towards River and gave her a stern look.

"River you have to tell them about the baby. How much longer do you think you can keep this a secret? You're already starting to show a little bit. Jayne is going to figure it out soon. And you have to start taking better care of yourself. You look exhausted, you have dark circles under your eyes, and you aren't gaining nearly enough weight." He chastised.

Gabriel took some of her blood and ran it through the scanner and then listened intently to the baby's heart beat, he was relieved to see that everything looked normal.

"I can't tell him yet, he isn't ready. He and Simon are both using all of their strength just to make it from one day to the next. I can't put this kind of worry on either of them." River argued.

"Honey you aren't going to be able to keep this quiet much longer. The crew is going to start noticing your belly getting bigger." Gabriel reminded her.

River turned and looked out at the couch where three of the most important people in her life sat with identical looks of worry etched on their faces. It frustrated her to know end that she was a reader and yet she had no idea how any of them would react to the news of the baby. If they were upset about it, she though it would be the worst feeling in the world. As she was thinking this she pressed one hand onto the growing bulge of her stomach and felt a small flutter of movement from within.

River was suddenly reminded of her own mother and the sacrifice Reagan had made for her child. Now River was the one who was going to be a mother and she realized that meant that the baby had to come first; before her self, before her brother, and even before Jayne.

"Alright, you win. I'll tell Jayne tonight before we go to bed and then I'll tell the rest of the crew tomorrow." River finally conceded.

"Good. The baby seems to be doing just fine, but you have to start getting more sleep and eating more. Those are doctor's orders and your father's as well, so it's doubly important." Gabriel said as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh one other thing as well." Gabriel said suddenly.

"What is it?" River asked.

"Can you please marry that boy out there before my grandchild is born? Call me old fashioned, but I want my only daughter to be married before she becomes a mother."

River smiled and pulled her father into a hug. "Does this mean you now approve of Jayne?" She asked.

"Well it doesn't take a genius to see how in love with you he is and when I think about it that's all I really want for you." Gabriel whispered and returned her hug.

"You guys can come back in now. We're all finished." Gabriel called.

"What's wrong with her?" Jayne asked.

"She's just run down. Too much worrying in the last few months and not enough rest and food. I think it would be wise if you took her straight to bed Jayne." Gabriel told the worried man.

Jayne nodded and helped River down off of the bed.

"Come on baby doll let's get ya ta bed like yer dad said." Jayne ordered as he put an arm around her waist to make sure she didn't fall again.

"Goodnight everyone." River called as they walked out of the room.

"You sure she's alright Dad?" Simon asked once the couple was gone.

"She'll be fine Simon, she's just run down." Gabriel assured him.

Suddenly down the hall they could hear Josh crying from his nursery. "Guess I'm being paged." Simon joked as he headed off to see to his son.

Gabriel began cleaning up the infirmary and putting tools away when Mal suddenly cleared his throat.

"Hey Dr. Tam can I ask you something?" Mal asked sounding uncomfortable.

"Of course." Gabriel replied distractedly.

"I just, well when I picked River up I noticed somethin. Her belly, well what I mean is, is River pregnant?"

Gabriel wasn't sure how to respond, he didn't want to lie, but he also didn't want to betray River's trust. But then he figured she'd promised to tell everyone in the morning anyway.

"I shouldn't say anything, but since you discovered it on your own, yes she is. She's about five months along now. I discovered it when she got shot the day that Simon and Jayne were taken." Gabriel explained.

Mal was silent for a minute while he let the new information sink in.

"So is she ever plannin on tellin any of us?" Mal asked.

"Actually that's what we were discussing a minute ago. She is worried about putting more stress onto Jayne and Simon right now, but I convinced her to tell them, she won't be able to keep it a secret much longer anyway."

"She shoulda said somethin fore now. She shouldn't be carryin somethin' like that by herself." Mal muttered.

"I've been telling her the same thing for two months." Gabriel replied.

"Captain please don't mention the pregnancy to anyone. River said she'll tell the crew tomorrow." Gabriel called as Mal left the room.

"Don't worry I won't say nothin, but she'll probably know ya told me." Mal answered as he walked away.

In their bunk Jayne gently tucked River into bed and then lay down beside her.

"I'm sorry love; feel like this is all my fault." He said.

River looked up at him with her large brown eyes that Jayne loved so much. "Your fault? Why would it be your fault?" She asked innocently.

"Well I know ya been seein my dreams, that they've been waken ya up. That plus I know how closely ya been watchin me during the day. You gotta stop worryin so much bout me, bao-bei. I don't want ya makin yerself sick." Jayne chided her gently.

River sat up and looked across the room. Her hair was hanging like a curtain around her, hiding her face from Jayne's view. Jayne realized that she did this when something was bothering her.

"I have to tell you something ai-ren. I've needed to tell you for awhile now, but I'm afraid that if I tell you it will upset you. I don't want you to go through anymore worry or fear because of me." River whispered.

"You ain't leavin me are ya?" Jayne asked fearfully.

"No of course not, nothing like that." River assured him.

"Alright then just spit it out. Long as yer stayin with me, I think I can handle anything else ya gotta tell me."

"I'm pregnant." River whispered.

Jayne felt like his world stopped spinning and frozen in its place the moment the words left River's mouth. He suddenly became very aware of his pulse beating in his neck and just how dry his mouth had become.

"Pregnant? Like me and you are havin a baby?" Jayne muttered disbelievingly.

"Yes I was going to tell you the day that Niska took you and since we got you back, I just didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want to put anymore stress on you." River explained and began to cry a little.

It was the few small tears running down her face that brought Jayne back to reality.

"Hey bao-bei don't cry. And don't ever think ya gotta protect me from things. If you got somethin' ta tell me that effects the both of us then just tell me. You don't ever gotta go through stuff like this alone ya hear me?" Jayne said and wiped the tears off River's face with his thumb.

River nodded a little, but she was biting her lip and still crying a little.

"What is it baby doll?" He asked.

"You haven't said anything about the baby. Are you unhappy?" She asked in a trembling voice.

"You're the reader can't ya tell how I'm feelin?" Jayne asked.

"You're feelings are confused since you came back, Simon's too. Hard to tell exactly what either of you are feeling now, there are too many conflicting emotions." River explained.

"Hmm never figured I be the sorta person to have complicated feelins. And to answer yer question hell no I ain't unhappy bout the baby. I'm scared outta my head bout bein a dad, never really figured on bein one, but how can I be upset bout you and me havin a little one? I mean I do ok with Alex and Josh and I ain't ever been round kids fore them. I think I can handle havin one a my own, specially if he turns out as handsome as his pa." Jayne said and gave River a grin and a wink.

River stared at him again with those impossibly large eye of hers and then her face broke into a huge smile and she threw her arms around him and began kissing him.

"I'm so glad you are happy and our baby will be beautiful whether it's a boy or a girl." River giggled.

"Well a course it will be with us as its folks. So does anyone else know bout the baby?" He asked.

"My father, he found out the day I got shot and Mal knows too. He saw my stomach earlier when he carried me down to the infirmary."

Jayne looked down and studied River's body carefully for the first time since returning from Niska's. He suddenly realized that she had been wearing all of her old dresses lately; the dresses that hung loosely and hid her figure from the world. Now that he looked closely though he could see the slight rise of her stomach, it wasn't anything major, just a small bulge. Jayne pressed his hand over her stomach and for the first time since the awful day he'd been captured his face broke out into a huge and real smile. When River read him a moment later the only emotions she could sense were overwhelming love and excitement. She returned his large smile and then began to kiss him; her kissed getting deeper and longer by the second.

"Is it ok for ya to be doin this?" Jayne asked sounding worried.

"Perfectly fine." River assured him as she began to unbutton his pants.

"Well thank Buddha for that." Jayne replied.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The next morning River walked into the galley to find Kaylee and Simon sitting at the table. Josh was cradled in Simon's arms looking very happy to be with his father. River took a breath and cleared her mind for a moment before she mentally projected the sight of father and son to her brother. Simon jerked a little in surprise like he did every time she unexpectedly gave him sight. He then broke into a large grin, "Morning River."

"Good morning Simon, morning Kaylee." She said cheerfully and bent over to give her nephew a kiss. She had been so distracted by Simon and Jayne over the last two months that she hadn't really given her nephew the attention he deserved. He had really grown and was much more alert than he'd been before. He looked up at River and gave her a wide and slobbery grin while he cooed happily.

"Simon may I speak with you in private for a minute up on the bridge?" River asked.

"Of course you can is everything alright mei-mei?" He asked as he stood up from the table.

"Fine there's just something I need to tell you." River replied.

Simon handed Josh to Kaylee and followed River up to the bridge. River sat down in the co-pilot's chair that she used now and waited until Simon had taken a seat across from her in Wash's old chair.

"So what's going on mei-mei?" He asked.

"I just wanted to tell you before I told the rest of the crew, I'm pregnant." River said and then waited for Simon to absorb the news. River knew that Simon only wanted her to be happy, but she also knew that as her big brother things like this tended to freak him out.

"Wow, um, that's really big. Does Jayne know?" Simon asked.

"Yes I told him last night. He's happy, but scared." River replied.

"I remember that feeling when I found out Kaylee was expecting Josh. How are you feeling about things?"

"Scared. I keep thinking once the news settles into my brain I won't be scared anymore, but I've had quite awhile to adjust and I'm still terrified."

"How long have you known about the baby? You said you've had awhile to think about it." Simon asked.

"I'm a reader remember. I've known since it happened; five months, six days, and approximately seven hours ago."

"Well um, that's specific. How come you waited so long to tell anyone?"

"I waited at first because I was scared and wanted time to deal with it on my own and then you and Jayne were taken and it didn't seem appropriate." She replied quietly.

"We got back two months ago. You should have said something sooner." Simon admonished.

"I have already been reprimanded by Jayne and our father, I promise the next time I am with child I will share the news in a timelier fashion." River replied with a laugh.

"The next time? I'm still trying to get used to the fact that my little sister is going to have one baby, I don't think I'm ready to think about any more."

"So what do you think?" River asked.

"So what do I think about what?" Simon asked with mock innocence.

"Simon Tam you know exactly what I mean. Your opinion is of great importance to me and I would like to know what you think about Jayne and I procreating. I'm not sure if I am an appropriate choice to be a mother and…" River trailed off suddenly when it occurred to her just what she was so scared of.

She hadn't really let herself think about it before then, but speaking to Simon made her realize she was terrified that she wouldn't be able to be a good mother to her child. Was it fair to bring a baby into the world to a mother who wasn't entirely sane? River swallowed thickly and put a hand to her forehead.

"What if I'm a bad mother because I'm not right?" River whispered and Simon could immediately hear the quaver in her voice.

He stood up quickly and knelt down in front of River.

"So you're worried that you won't be a good mother because of what the Academy did to you?" Simon asked gently.

"Yes." She whimpered.

Simon thought for a long moment and then held one of River's hands in his own. "Well think about it like this; right here on Serenity look at how many different roles you play to everyone. You're a sister, a friend, a daughter, a pilot, and you're about to be a wife. You manage to do all of these things with your brain the way it is and I think if you asked anyone on board they'd agree with me in saying that you do them all wonderfully. I think being a mother is just one more thing you'll be great at." Simon replied.

River stayed quiet for a second; reading her brother to make sure he was telling the truth. She couldn't sense anything from him that made her think he wasn't being completely truthful.

"Thank you Simon." She said and threw her arms around her brother. Simon stiffened suddenly and scrambled away from her embrace.

Simon sat on the floor breathing heavily after a moment he took a deep breath and rubbed one hand over his face, "I'm sorry River."

"Don't worry. I promise things will get easier in time. Someday what happened to you won't be at the front of your mind all the time; it will fade into the background and become just one more thing that happened to you." River assured him as she knelt down and helped him up.

"I guess that's something you would know a lot about." Simon said sadly as he sat down in the pilot's chair once again.

"I can't believe my little sister is going to be a mother." He said brightly trying to bring the subject around to something happier. "Kaylee is going to be so excited and it will be great for Josh to have a little cousin."

"Thank you for being happy for me Simon. I thought perhaps you would play the over protective big brother and lecture me about being too young and not yet married."

"Hey Dad is on board now, I figure if you want someone to lecture you about all that you can just go to him." Simon smirked.

"He is rather insistent that Jayne and I be married before the baby comes."

"Actually I think I have to agree with him on that one. Well everyone should be in the galley for breakfast you want to go give everyone the news?" Simon asked as he stood up and gave River his hand to pull her to her feet.

River let Jayne make the announcement to everyone once they were all seated for breakfast. It made Simon smile to hear the pride Jayne had in his voice when he revealed that he and River would be parents.

"I can't believe ya ain't yellin at us Mal. You sure threw a right fit when the Doc got Kaylee pregnant, what happened ta all that talk bout how kids don't belong on a space ship?" Jayne asked.

"Well we already got two rug-rats on board I'm guessin a couple more won't make much of a difference." Mal replied.

"A couple more? Me and River are just havin the one. Unless it's twins, it ain't twins is it baby doll?" Jayne asked turning to River.

"No just one fetus, I promise." River replied and then suddenly looked at Mal with a surprised and happy look on her face.

"The Captain has a secret." River teased in a sing-song voice.

"River I'm sure it can wait until later, this is your special day to celebrate your good news." Inara whispered quickly.

"More good news can only enhance the day." River replied.

Mal and Inara exchanged a quick glance and smile before Mal cleared his throat to get the room's attention.

"Well if yer sure Lil' Albatross. Me and Inara are gonna be havin a baby of our own. Dr. Tam just told us yesterday." Mal announced with a large smile on his face.

The next few minutes were a confusing bedlam while the entire table talked at once. Alex was overjoyed and nearly beside herself with excitement of having two new babies on board. River, Kaylee, Inara, and Zoe all began talking about pregnancy; the two mothers giving the two pregnant woman advice and warnings about the months ahead. Simon congratulated Mal and Jayne on becoming fathers and both of them made him promise that he would give them advice on dealing with pregnant wives and babies whenever they asked for it.

Two hours later Gabriel stood in the infirmary thinking about the happy scene he witnessed in the galley that morning. He realized Simon had been right when he'd said that River and he had found a new family. Gabriel sighed sadly when he realized that he was the one who had forced his children to find this new family, he had thrown both of them out of his life and then he'd come bursting back into theirs demanding to be a part of it. It was so humbling to think of all the mistakes he'd made that really couldn't be undone. Gabriel realized that his children were even more amazing than he'd previously thought because they had allowed him back into their lives at all. He had believed that it was the temptation of the inheritance money which had prompted them to allow Reagan and himself on board. But now he knew better than that. The only reason Simon and River cared about the money at all was because it would help out this family of theirs.

Gabriel took a deep breath to try and prepare for what he was about to do. Maybe it was the wrong decision, but he had to do it. Simon walked into the room then and gave his father a warm smile. Gabriel was suddenly glad his son couldn't see him because there was no way he could even attempt to return the smile.

"Hey Dad. Mal said you needed to talk to me about something. Everything ok?" Simon asked pleasantly.

This was the happiest that Gabriel could remember Simon sounding in the past two months and he hated to think that what he was about to do would hinder that happiness, but it had to be done.

"Yes um Simon there's just something that I needed to speak with you about. About your sister." Gabriel said nervously.

"Is she alright, the baby and everything?" Simon asked sounding instantly concerned as he walked over to where his father was standing.

"Yes she's fine." Gabriel replied distractedly. He again thought how much easier Simon's blindness was making all of this.

Without saying another word Gabriel picked up the syringe he'd been preparing and stuck it into Simon's neck.

Simon gave a strangled gasp and pulled away from his father.

"What are you doing?" He asked with one hand clamped to his neck. He reached a hand out to steady himself as the sedative began to take effect almost immediately.

"I'm sorry Simon, but I have to do this. For your mother, I have to do this." Gabriel whispered. He reached out and caught Simon as his legs buckled under him.

Simon struggled to fight against the smothering sleepiness of the sedative.

"Dad please whatever you're thinking…don't." Simon managed to gasp out before the sedative claimed him.

"I'm sorry Simon it has to be this way." Gabriel whispered.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Simon moaned and tried to move, but he felt like his entire body was stuck in cement. Every movement seemed to take an enormous effort. His head was throbbing painfully and when he attempted to sit up sharp daggers of pain shot through the front of his head to the back.

"Simon just hold still, don't move to quickly." He vaguely heard his father say.

"What?" Simon mumbled. His head felt so foggy and confused. He tried to determine what drugs he had been given to make him feel that way, but gave up after a moment; his confused mind just didn't want to cooperate.

"Everything's fine Simon I promise." Gabriel assured him again and came over to pick up Simon's wrist and take his pulse.

"What did you do to me?" Simon asked a few seconds later when his head had cleared a little.

"I'm sorry Simon. You made me promise not to do anything but I went against your wishes." Gabriel told him softly.

"My wishes?" Simon asked.

"I couldn't just let my only son remain blind while I knew there was something that could help him. I had to try."

"What…" Simon began, but then his brain finally caught up with what his father was saying.

"The eye transplant? Is that what you did to me? Are we in the Core?" Simon asked. His brain was already listing all of the ways that River and the rest of his family could be in danger at that very second.

"Don't worry Simon I didn't bring you to the Core, you're still here on Serenity. We managed to find a doctor who was willing to come to us." Gabriel assured him gently.

"How did you find an ocular surgeon who was willing to come out to the Rim to perform a procedure that complicated?" Simon asked. He knew just how delicate of an operation the transplant was and he knew that doing it in his small infirmary would be extremely difficult.

"Actually it was Jayne who found the doctor for us."

"Jayne?" Simon asked.

Simon was confused for a second as to how Jayne would know an eye surgeon, but then he remembered the conversation that they'd had years ago when Simon had first been blinded. Simon considered that conversation to be the beginning of their friendship; the day that Jayne had revealed he too had once been blind. He'd told Simon about the year of blindness he'd endured before his family had been able to afford to take him to the Core for the necessary surgery. Jayne had offered back then to help Simon get to the surgeon somehow, but Simon had refused.

"Isn't the doctor wondering why he had to come out to the ass end of the Verse to perform an eye transplant?" Simon asked still convinced that somehow this was going to endanger his loved ones.

"He understands that the person who needed the surgery is someone who can't go to the Core for legal reasons and believe me he's been paid very well to keep this to himself. Captain Reynolds has also taken a great many precautions to keep Dr. Franklin from knowing what ship he is on and where exactly the ship is located right now."

"The Captain knows about this?" Simon asked.

"The entire crew is aware of what happened although only Mal, Jayne, and Kaylee knew before the surgery; although I suppose River was aware of it as well." Gabriel explained.

"I'm still confused. You need cloned eyes to do a transplant, how did you get the DNA sample to grow the clones?" Simon asked.

"I took a sample from you right after you were rescued from Niska's. It was while you were unconscious from the head injury. I'm sorry I did everything in secret, but you were so adamant about not putting the crew in danger and I knew you wouldn't agree to this. About a week after you came back I told Captain Reynolds about the surgery and the sample I'd taken from you. Neither of us had any idea how to make it possible. Jayne overheard us discussing it one night and he gave me the name of a Dr. Franklin. I did some research and discovered that he's an excellent surgeon and he was an Independent during the war. I contacted him and explained some of the situation and he agreed to do the surgery. I sent him the DNA samples and he spent the last month growing the clones." Gabriel finished.

Simon felt something warm running inside his arm from the i.v. and he began to feel groggy again.

"It's just a smoother Simon, you need to rest. I promise I'll explain more once you're feeling better." Gabriel assured him.

"Did it work? The surgery, did it work?" Simon asked his words slurring slightly as the smoother kicked in.

"I don't know yet son. We'll have to wait a few days before we know anything." Gabriel replied but Simon was already asleep.

The next time Simon came to he could tell that Kaylee was holding his hand; he would recognize her strong sure grip anywhere.

"Kaylee?" He murmured.

"Right here ai-ren. How are you feeling?" She asked softly as she gently ran her fingers through his hair in the comforting way that he loved.

"Um tired and sore. Kinda feel like somebody drugged me and did unexpected eye surgery on me." He joked trying to take the worry out of her voice.

Kaylee continued to run her fingers through his hair and then suddenly she fell forward and pressed her forehead to his chest. He could feel her body shaking with silent sobs.

"Hey Kaylee what's the matter? I'm fine, I swear, I'm not dying or anything." Simon asked feeling confused he thought she would be happy about the surgery.

"How could you not tell me? It's been four years and you never once told me that this surgery was possible. I'm your wife Simon! You should have told me!" Kaylee yelled and then began to cry again.

"Bao-bei please stop crying. Just listen to me for a minute ok?" Simon asked.

Kaylee took in a deep breath and didn't reply but her sobbing quieted down so he continued.

"I didn't tell you about this surgery because it was never a possibility. Before my parents came back into our lives having this surgery wasn't anywhere in the realm of something we could do."

"Oh Simon we would have found a way…" Kaylee interrupted, but Simon held up a hand to shush her.

"That was the problem. I knew you all would do anything to make it happen and that would have been a danger to everyone. Did my father tell you how expensive this procedure is? It would have been over a year's worth of all of our wages combined, not just yours and mine, the entire crew's. Plus the only place it could have been done was the Core. It had been less than a year after Miranda and then Alex was born and later it was Josh and I just couldn't put any of us in that kind of danger." Simon took a deep breath his explanation leaving him feeling extremely worn out.

"But Simon you were blind. Don't you think helping you to see again would have been worth the risk?" Kaylee asked through her tears.

"What if they had arrested me and thrown me in jail? You would have been alone with our son. What if they had gotten a hold of River and sent her back to the Academy? What if they had arrested Mal or Zoe or Jayne? No I don't think risking any of those things would have been worth it. Trust me bao-bei being blind isn't the worse thing in the Verse." Simon answered.

"It just hurts so much to think that you could have been better all this time. That you gave up that opportunity for all of us." Kaylee replied.

"If it was you in my position and you had to choose between your sight and your family, you would choose your family in a heartbeat. I know that for a fact bao-bei. Can't you understand that I had to do the same?" Simon pleaded.

Kaylee continued to sniffle but she seemed to be calming down. He felt her lean over and brush her lips softly against his and then she laughed a little.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Well I just been sittin here for the last hour gettin mad at ya and thinkin of all these things I was gonna say to ya. But then you go and say all of that and how can I stay mad at you when you make me love you even more?" Kaylee replied.

"Sorry I didn't mean to mess up all the yelling you were preparing to do." Simon replied sarcastically.

"Well I guess I can let ya off the hook seein as how ya just had surgery and all." Kaylee answered and leaned over to kiss him again.

"Kaylee have they said if the surgery worked? I asked my Dad before, but I was pretty out of it I don't remember what he said." Simon asked.

"They don't know yet ai-ren. Dr. Franklin told me it would take at least a week before the swellin would go down enough for ya ta see anything. Right now we just gotta wait and see."

"Or wait and not see." Simon added darkly.

"Simon don't be thinkin' like that, of course it worked." Kaylee replied with her usual optimism.

"I just don't want to get my hopes up, or yours either. There's a chance that I still won't be able to see. Will that bother you having to stay married to a blind man?" Simon asked fearfully.

"Of course not! Simon how can you even ask me that? You know I love you; whether or not you can see doesn't have anything to do with that!" Kaylee said sounding shocked.

"I know I'm sorry. I just never thought this would happen, I don't know if I'm dealing with it all that well. I don't want to start thinking that in a few days I'll be able to see again and then discover that it's not going to happen."

Kaylee kissed him once more reassuringly. "I'm gonna go get Dr. Franklin, he wanted to talk to ya once you woke up."

"I won't go anywhere I promise." Simon replied as he listened to Kaylee walk out of the room.

"Simon I'm Dr. Franklin. It's nice to finally meet you." The doctor said a few seconds later as he walked into the infirmary.

"It's nice to meet you too. Thank you for coming out here to do this. I'm sure you don't often come half way across the Verse to perform surgery."

"No can't say that I've ever done this before, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to help you. How are you feeling?"

"Alright I guess. Tired and my eyes feel like they're on fire, but other than that I'm great." Simon answered.

"I'll give you something for the pain in just a minute. You know I have to say you have a rather interesting medical history. I looked over your chart before the surgery and I've never seen a trauma surgeon who has had quite so much trauma happen to them personally. Two gunshot wounds, blinded by a nova bomb, and I don't even know what happened to cause your latest set of injuries but they were very extensive." Dr. Franklin commented.

"Hazard of living out here in the Black I guess. Things tend to be dangerous."

"Yes I'm beginning to see that."

"Dr. Franklin can I ask you a question?" Simon asked.

"Of course." The doctor replied.

"I just don't understand why you would be willing to do something like this. I mean if someone found out that you'd performed surgery without hospital consent you could lose your license. Not to mention the fact that I'm sure you've figured out that I'm not exactly in good standing with the Alliance; you could be arrested just for helping me. Why would you take that kind of a risk for someone you don't even know?"

"I'll admit at first I wasn't even going to consider coming out here. But then I got a letter from a Mr. Jayne Cobb. He was a patient of mine years ago, one of the few I actually remember. Never had a patient use so many curse words during a simple eye exam before."

"That's definitely Jayne." Simon inserted.

"While his letter didn't give me many of the details, he did make it quite clear that I would be helping an extraordinary doctor who had been blinded while saving the life of a pregnant woman. That really caught my attention. He also mentioned the fact that you and the rest of the crew were responsible for the Miranda broadcast."

"Why would the Miranda broadcast mean anything? I was under the impression that no one really believed the broadcast anyway."

"I believed it from the second I saw it. My sister was a doctor on Miranda. We were told that she died of a plague that had infected a large amount of the population. I never really believed that story and when I saw the Miranda broadcast everything made sense. Mr. Cobb must have gone through an enormous amount of work to find out about my sister. After I learned that you had helped uncover the truth, well I felt like this was the least I could do for you." Dr. Franklin finished.

"I'm very sorry about your sister. Thank you for doing this for me."

"It's been my pleasure. So often the only people I get to help are rich ungrateful snobs who are too vain to wear glasses. You've given me the opportunity to give sight back to a man who has given up an enormous amount for his family." Dr. Franklin said warmly.

"How did the operation go? I mean do you think it was successful?" Simon asked hopefully.

"Honestly I don't know. Generally right now I would spout off something to make you feel better like; we have to wait and see, everything went well during the surgery, and I'm optimistic that the results will be positive. But you're a doctor as well so I'm not going to do that, instead I'm just going to give you the facts. The surgery did go smoothly, but there was an enormous amount of damage caused by the nova bomb. I did what I could to repair the damage before I transplanted the cloned eyes, but I honestly don't know if it will be enough. It's likely that some of your sight will come back, but I can't say if it will be anything more than the ability to distinguish between light and dark at this point."

"So pretty much we have to just wait and see?" Simon asked.

"Basically yes. We should be able to take the bandages off in a week, until then we won't know anything. I suggest for right now you just get some rest and try to recover from the surgery."

"Don't think that'll be a problem." Simon replied as he tried to stifle a yawn and didn't succeed.

The next week was one of the longest in Simon's life, not nearly as long as the week he'd spent at Niska's but still long. He realized now that the saying about doctors making the worst patients was true. He hated lying in bed all day with nothing to do and the bandages around his eyes were itchy and annoying.

After three days in the infirmary Dr. Franklin let him return to he and Kaylee's bunk with strict instructions to take it easy. Simon was finding it hard to comply with the taking it easy order though.

"Hey Simon ain't ya supposed ta be in bed er somethin?" Jayne asked one night.

Simon hadn't been able to sleep and he'd be drawn to the cargo bay by the sound of Jayne's weights.

"Couldn't sleep, thought I'd see if you wanted a spotter." Simon replied.

"No offense or anything but I don't think I'm gonna let the guy who just had his head operated on four days ago be my spotter. You could pass out and drop the bar on my neck." Jayne grunted as he continued to lift.

Simon shrugged and moved around to sit down on the old crate they kept by the bench for a chair.

"How ya feelin Doc?"

"Alright. I don't know. It's weird." Simon replied after thinking for a moment.

"You worried the surgery ain't gonna work?" Jayne asked.

"You know for a guy who acts as dense as you do most of the time, you are fairly astute." Simon commented.

"Guess I just know what it's like is all."

"I guess you would. Were you scared after Dr. Franklin did the surgery on you?"

"Hell yeah. But don't be tellin nobody I told ya that. I remember I just kept thinkin' on how if it didn't work it was my last chance at seein'. It wasn't so bad before cause I kept thinkin' there was somethin' out there that could fix me. Once it was done, it was like I knew it was that or nothin." Jayne explained.

"That's exactly what I keep thinking about. I thought I was completely adjusted to being blind, I didn't think it bothered me anymore. But now that it's possible I might see again, I just keep thinking about all those things I haven't been able to do since it happened."

"What like go to town without needin help?" Jayne asked.

"That and see Kaylee naked." Simon blurted out.

Both men sat in dead silence for a minute and then burst out laughing.

"Wait how did that happen? Jayne Cobb made a sensitive comment and I brought up naked woman! Did we switch brains for a second and I didn't realize it?" Simon gasped out through his laughter.

"Don't know bout the brain switchin, but I sure as hell like ya a lot more suddenly." Jayne said as he tried to control his laughter.

"I just wish I knew whether or not the surgery worked you know. The waiting is killing me." Simon added after they had been silent for a few minutes.

"Well that doc fixed me didn't he? Bet he probably did the same for you." Jayne encouraged as he got up from the weight bench. "Night Doc." He added as he walked past Simon.

"Hey Jayne?" Simon called.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for writing the letter to Dr. Franklin. That's probably one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me." Simon said warmly.

"Hey I told ya four years ago if ya needed my help to get the surgery I'd do it. Weren't nothin' more than that." Jayne said uncomfortably and hurried from the room.

Four days after Simon and Jayne's talk in the cargo bay Dr. Franklin told Simon he could remove the bandages. The entire crew had wanted to be in the room, but River insisted that everyone except Kaylee wait outside.

After Dr. Franklin warned Simon numerous times to keep his eyes shut to protect them from the lights in the room he began to unwind the gauze. Simon couldn't help but flash back to the day the nova bomb had taken his sight. He remembered slowly opening his eyes after Kaylee had removed the bandages only to discover that he couldn't see. It had been one of the darkest moments in his life, one that he hoped he wasn't about to repeat.

"Alright Simon I'm going to dim the lights in the room and then I want you to slowly open your eyes when I tell you to." Dr. Franklin instructed.

Kaylee gripped Simon's hand and squeezed it. He could tell that she was every bit as anxious as he was.

"Go ahead and open them Simon."

Simon opened his eyes slowly and then let out a long slow breath.

"Anything?" Kaylee asked hopefully.

"You didn't turn the lights all the way off did you?" Simon asked.

"No they're still fairly bright. You can't see them?" The doctor asked sounding concerned.

"No I can't." Simon whispered sadly.

He could hear Kaylee beside him crying quietly and trying to hide it.

"It's ok ai-ren. It don't matter none." Kaylee comforted as she wrapped her arms around him.

Simon knew she was trying to reassure him and make him feel better, but he could hear the bitter disappointment in her voice all too clearly.

He knew exactly how she felt.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

It was late in the evening when Simon was finally able to slip away from the crew and be alone. It seemed that everyone on board was convinced that if they left him alone he was going to have a break down. They had all insisted on gathering in the galley for dinner and then spent the evening making excuses to keep everyone in the same room.

Finally Simon had claimed that he wasn't feeling well and excused himself to go lie down. He walked slowly towards his bunk lightly trailing one hand along the wall to guide him. It seemed strange that everyone was so upset about something that hadn't changed. He was still the exact same Simon he'd been before the surgery, the same one he'd been for the past four years. He hadn't been unhappy with his life before, he didn't understand why he should have any reason to be unhappy about it now. But he was. He hurt in a way he couldn't define; not even to himself.

Part of him wanted to scream at his father, to grab him and shake him, and ask him why in the hell he'd brought this kind of pain back into his life. The rational part of him knew that he wouldn't ever do it. He even knew that he didn't have the right to do it. After all what had his father done except spend a fortune to try and help his only son. Simon couldn't fault him for that. But he really didn't feel like being rational at the moment. He just wanted to be angry at someone or something for doing this to him. Hadn't he been through enough? Hadn't he suffered enough? Why did the Verse keep kicking him when he was down?

"The Lord never gives us more than we can handle." River said from directly behind him making him jump.

"Gorram it River don't sneak up on me!" Simon yelled.

"Shh… don't want to wake up Josh I'm putting him to bed for Kaylee." River said and then projected the image of Josh cradled in her arms to Simon.

"Don't do that River." Simon snapped, but in a quieter tone. "Please don't, not tonight. I don't want to be reminded of the fact that the only way I can see is to have my baby sister use her super powers to help me."

"Thought you called it a gift?" River asked sounding hurt.

"It is I guess, just not tonight." Simon muttered.

"The Lord never gives us more than we can handle." River said again.

"Why do you keep saying that? Are you channeling Shepherd Book now or something?" Simon asked.

"Sometimes his beliefs are extremely accurate, especially in this case." River explained.

"Yeah well sorry if I don't really feel like a sermon tonight."

Simon felt River step close to him. She reached a hand up and brushed her thumb over his eyes gently.

"Anger will make you more blind than these ever will." She said simply and then stepped past him into Josh's room.

Simon stood in the middle of the hallway not sure what to do next. He'd been ready to scream at the whole world a few minutes before, but River's words had sucked the anger out of him. He fell against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the cold grating. He stared straight ahead and tried to will his new eyes to work, tried with everything he had to make them see something, anything in the darkness. Lightly in the background he could hear River singing a lullaby to Josh. A small sad smile crossed his face when he realized that it was the same song their mother had sung to them as children.

"Ai-ren you alright?" Kaylee asked as she came up and sat down next to him. She linked her arm through his and rested her head lightly on his shoulder.

"I don't know Kaylee."

"I know it hurts now Simon, but it'll be alright." Kaylee assured him.

Simon couldn't help but wonder where Kaylee got her unending supply of strength and optimism. She never let anything keep her down. He knew if the situation were reversed she wouldn't be sitting alone in the hall pitying herself. She would grieve, move on, and count every blessing she had in her life. It then occurred to him what River had meant when she said anger would blind him. His anger was keeping him from seeing that Kaylee was the greatest blessing he ever had in his life. She was his light in the darkness and she always would be.

"You wanna go ta bed ai-ren?" Kaylee asked.

"I'll meet you there alright? There's something I need to do first." Simon replied and kissed her cheek.

Simon knocked softly on the door to his father's shuttle; hoping he wasn't asleep yet.

"Yes?" Gabriel called.

"Simon I thought you'd gone to bed." Gabriel said sounding surprised when his son opened the door.

"I was but I needed to talk to you first. Can I come in?" Simon asked.

"Of course you can."

Simon walked into the shuttle and almost immediately ran into a chair that hadn't been there the last time he'd been in the shuttle.

"I'm sorry I forgot I moved the furniture around." Gabriel apologized as he quickly walked over to Simon and helped him into a seat.

"It's fine." Simon assured him.

"How are you son?" Gabriel asked.

"Actually better than I was a few minutes ago. I guess I just had something of a revelation and I wanted to talk to you about it."

"A revelation huh? Tell me about it."

"I was sitting in the hall feeling sorry for myself. I had all this anger inside of me; at you, at Dr. Franklin, at the world and then Kaylee came and sat with me. She just sat there and told me everything would be alright and suddenly I knew it would be. I started thinking about what a gift she is to me and then I realized that you just lost your wife. I mean I'd realized it before obviously, but it didn't sink in until that second. I never really told you how sorry I am for your loss and I just needed to come here and do that."

Gabriel tried to swallow past the knot in his throat so that he could respond.

"Thank you Simon, I- well that means so much to me." Gabriel finally replied and then he began to sob.

Simon moved over and held his father, letting him release the grief he'd been keeping inside. Simon listened to the sound of his father's sobs and he realized that he forgave his father. He completely forgave him for everything without any lingering anger or resentment. It was the lightest Simon's heart had felt in as long as he could remember.

Gabriel sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I miss her so much, sometimes I forget she's gone and then I remember and it hurts all over again." He said sadly.

"She really loved you." Simon commented.

"She really loved you too. I hope you know that. I know neither of us showed you and River the kind of love you deserved, even before River went to that place. But my God Simon you're mother loved you more than anything in this Verse."

"I know that Dad and I know you do too. I want you to know that I forgive you, for everything. I should have let go of all that resentment a long time ago, I'm sorry it took me this long to do it." Simon answered.

This time it was Gabriel's turn to embrace his son. He held him tightly and again thought about what an amazing man his son was.

Both men let go at the same time and laughed a little at the emotion they'd been showing.

"You know what? I really am exhausted. I'm going to bed." Simon told his father.

"Good night son. Thank you again for what you said, it means more to me than you'll ever know."

"Simon?" Gabriel called right before Simon walked out the door. "I am sorry that the surgery didn't work, I would give everything I have if it could make you better."

"You know what Dad? It's really ok." Simon replied and as he walked towards his bunk he realized that it really was.

Kaylee was asleep when he got to their bunk, but woke up when he climbed into bed.

"Everything ok?" She asked sleepily.

"Fine just needed to talk to my Dad for a minute." He replied and gave her a warm smile.

Kaylee pulled him down and began to kiss him, he returned her kisses hungrily, but then suddenly jerked away from her.

"Simon?" She asked instantly concerned.

He didn't reply just sat there with a shocked look on his face.

"Simon what's wrong?" She asked again.

"I… I… Kaylee I can see you." Simon stuttered sounding amazed.

"What? You can see me?" She asked sounding equally amazed.

"Yes, it's fuzzy, but I can see you. I opened my eyes and there you were right in front of me." He said excitedly. He sat up quickly and began looking around the room in awe.

"Wuh de ma! I can see!" He repeated. He grabbed Kaylee and held her tightly, they were both laughing hysterically in between excited kisses.

"But how? I thought the surgery didn't work?" She asked.

"It must have just taken awhile for my eyes to readjust or else there was still too much swelling. You know I don't even care how it worked."

Without another word Simon jumped up and raced out of the room. Kaylee followed quickly behind him as he walked into their son's room. Simon stood at the crib staring transfixed down at his son.

"He's so beautiful. I mean I know I've seen him before through River, but being able to really see him on my own? He's just so beautiful." Simon whispered ecstatically.

They stood staring down at their sleeping son for nearly an hour. Simon couldn't seem to get enough of him, he felt like he could watch Josh sleep all night. It was finally Kaylee's yawn that brought him back to the present.

"We should go to bed." Simon whispered and pulled her from the room. He realized he was still holding onto the walls as he walked, using them as a guide. _Guess it'll take some time to get used to this. _He thought happily.

"Simon do you really think you can sleep? I mean aren't you too excited?" Kaylee asked.

"Who said anything about sleeping? I haven't seen my wife naked in four years. I have a lot of time to make up for." He told her and then picked her up and dropped her onto the bed.

"Well I guess if you have so much time to make up for we better get started right away." Kaylee giggled and pulled her shirt off. Simon couldn't even form words; he simply stared down at her for a full minute before he lay down on the bed to make love to her, making sure to keep the lights on the whole time.

Hours later Kaylee had fallen asleep, but Simon still felt wide awake. He walked up to the bridge and found River sitting in her usual seat staring out into the Black.

"Beautiful isn't it Simon?" River asked without turning around.

"More beautiful than you can imagine mei-mei." He said and sat down in the other pilot's chair.

They sat there all night, neither of them spoke, they didn't have to. They simply sat and stared out at the stars.

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A/N- So I hope this chapter makes up for chapter 19. I know it was a downer, I felt bad doing that to Simon.


	21. Epilogue

Epilogue

Simon's eye sight continued to improve over the next few months and although it was never as sharp as it had been before it was nothing a pair of glasses couldn't fix. Since Kaylee thought he looked adorable in the glasses Simon didn't mind them at all.

As River entered her last month of pregnancy Gabriel put his foot down and demanded that they land somewhere so that River and Jayne could be married.

River insisted that they set down on Maison, a small moon close to Haven. It was almost completely unpopulated, but beautiful, full of forests and sprawling plains of green grass.

Despite her large belly Simon thought River made one of the most graceful and beautiful brides he'd ever seen and once more marveled at the fact that he could see her at all. She insisted that both he and Gabriel walk her down the aisle and that Mal marry her and Jayne. Mal had thought a shepherd would be more appropriate, but River and Jayne had both agreed that they wouldn't feel right about any other shepherd besides Book marrying them.

After the ceremony Mal found himself standing alone on top of a hill overlooking the grassy plain where Serenity was parked. There was a large forest off in the distance and a glassy blue lake off to his right. He could understand why River had wanted to be married here, it was peaceful in a way that Mal seldom found being on land.

His peace was interrupted when he jumped suddenly upon finding River standing beside him. How someone who was close to popping out a kid could move that silently was beyond him.

"Beautiful ain't it Lil Albatross." He commented.

"It is. Maison means home in French." She informed him.

"Home huh?" Mal replied as he scanned the beautiful countryside once more.

Suddenly River reached out and grasped his arm in a vise like grip. When Mal looked over at his pilot she was staring straight ahead with a shocked and slightly pained look on her face. _Oh go-se!_ Mal thought, _the little Readers seein somethin bad. _

"Whatcha seein Lil Albatross?" Mal asked and reached out to steady her as she swayed on her feet.

River shook her head but didn't reply. Finally after what seemed like an eternity to Mal, but in reality was closer to thirty seconds River took a deep breath and relaxed her grip on Mal's arm.

"What's goin' on River, you see somethin' bad?"

"No didn't see anything. My water has broken." River stated calmly.

"Oh well that don't sound so bad." Mal said obliviously. It took him another minute or so before he processed just what River had told him.

"Wait yer water? So ya mean like down there? Like the baby's coming?" Mal stuttered uncomfortably and turned suddenly pale. River began to worry that he might faint.

"Yes, this would indicate that the baby will be coming in the near future." River again replied calmly.

Mal couldn't understand why River sounded so calm. He felt like he was going to pass out or throw up or possibly throw up and then pass out.

"Captain I think perhaps it would be wise to return to Serenity now." River said pulling him out of his panic filled thoughts.

"Right yeah good plan." He muttered again and then began to almost run back to the ship before it occurred to him to return and help River back to the ship at a more reasonable pace.

River couldn't help but smile and wonder how he was going to react in just three short months when it was Inara in labor with his own child.

Everyone was sitting in the galley when River and Mal walked in.

"We were wondering where the two of you were." Simon commented.

Just then River let out a small groan of pain and leaned over as far as her large belly would allow.

"Baby doll?" Jayne asked and quickly moved to help her to a chair.

"Looks like the two a ya got hitched just in time." Mal joked.

"Come on mei-mei lets get you to the infirmary." Simon instructed.

Eight hours later Reagan Elizabeth Cobb entered the world. Her Uncle Simon was the first person to lay eyes on her.

Three months later Lucas William Reynolds was born, just two days after the crew made the decision to put down permanent roots for the first time in years. Simon and River used a chunk of their inheritance money to buy a large tract of land on Maison.

On the night of Josh's first birthday Simon stood outside Serenity holding his son in his arms and watching the sunset. Directly in front of him were the skeleton structures of four sprawling ranch houses, when they were finished each small family would have their own home, but they would be close enough to make the crew still feel like one large family.

"Hey ai-ren what ya doin out here?" Kaylee asked as she wrapped her arms around Simon and leaned over to kiss Josh.

"Just watchin the sunset. It's beautiful here isn't it?" Simon asked.

"Mm-hm. Can't wait till the house is done." Kaylee said with a sigh.

"Yes it is getting a bit crowded in the ship now." Simon agreed.

"And it's gonna be gettin more crowded in about seven months." Kaylee added casually.

It took Simon a few seconds to process what Kaylee meant.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying bao-bei?"

"Ya think Josh'll like bein a big brother?" Kaylee asked.

Simon laughed and wrapped Kaylee in his arms and spun her around in the air. Josh squealed with laughter and gave Simon a large slightly slobbery kiss.

"I think he's gonna love it." Simon replied.

"You happy ai-ren?" Kaylee asked as they stared out at their future home.

Simon thought back over the last five years and all that had happened to him and his family. Not long ago he had been convinced that he would go to his grave blind and still hating his parents. Now he had his sight back and even though he'd lost his mother he'd found the love of both his parents again. He had a beautiful wife and son and if Kaylee was correct he was going to have another child in less than a year.

"Not just happy bao-bei. I don't think happy is a big enough word to describe it. Blessed that's the word I'm looking for, blessed." Simon answered.

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So that's it for this tale. Thanks to everyone who read and special thanks to those who reviewed ya'll rock!! Oh and I am working on a follow up story to this one.


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